julie petit park

Julie and I swapped stories Thursday afternoons.  I'd drive to her Simi Valley home after classes, pay a few games of Trivial Pursuit (r), and hang out with her daughters while she cooked.

We swapped stories of being brainy and awkward.

Julie had red hair, fair skin, and burned easily.  She described how the neighborhood kids would gather in Petit Park for games while she spent the afternoon reading at Granada Hills library,

Julie and I enjoyed the same authors growing up:  Beverly Cleary,  Elizabeth Enright, later Go Ask Alice , My Darling, My Hamburger.   We were incensed at the line in Updike's A&P:

"You never know for sure how girls’ minds work (do you really think it’s a mind in there or just a little buzz like a bee in a glass jar?)."