Belindas Smile

Everyone has those times when the mind "clicks" a picture. One never knows when it will happen or why.....but it does.

Belinda had a sweet smile and an expressive face that could say much with unspoken words. She was one of those South Texas Beauties of which "we" South Texas boys were so fortunate to have known in adolescence, although unappreciative at the time. She was of average height, dark shoulder length hair, brown eyes, and high cheekbones. She dressed moderately in simple dresses but with style. She was of an easy-going character, unassuming, and intelligent.

I had two classes with her my senior year. I never saw her socially, never talked in the halls, or saw her around town; she was a classmate in the truest sense of the word. We were lab partners in Chemistry and sat next to each other in English. For some reason it was easy to communicate with her; which was unusual because I was the "uncommunicative" type. Maybe it was her smile or her easy-going style....I don't know....I guess I was just lucky to have communicated with her.

She was a typical adolescent. I remember in English class when she was agonizing as to whether-or-not to tell her friend, a few rows down, that she had seen the girls boyfriend at a dance; she finally wrote her a note and passed it down. I remember her lamenting the fact that no one had asked her to the prom; I knew someone would take her.....and they did. I remember exchanging senior pictures with her; I kept the picture in my wallet and when I went to Saint Louis University, I would often show it to my Yankee friends; they were always impressed with our South Texas beauties.

Of course, one can't be an adolescent without a little sexual wonderment. We were doing a lab assignment in chemistry and the assignment involved siphoning some liquid from a bottle. To do this required drawing a vacuum using a long clear tube: if you've ever siphoned gas from a gas tank, then you know how that goes. Well, we were having some difficulty and Belinda offered to try it. She took the tube and aspirated in-three successive quick cycles in a very aggressive and tomboyish fashion. She got it to work....obviously the girl had some lungpower!!!!!!.I laughed and was going to say something ....but....keeping in character as a "quiet and shy" guy, I bit my tongue and just smiled at her. Even though I didn't say anything, she must have read-my-mind; cause she giggled and gave me a sheepish smile.

On another occasion in chemistry, for some reason, I was showing some other classmates how to use a slide rule; remember those things. There were three or four of us in a circle and Belinda was behind me. She couldn't see what I was doing.... so she came up behind me and put her chin on my shoulder and her arms around my waist. I am not sure whether I did the calculation right..cause... I was distracted by the warmth of her cheek a couple of millimeters away from mine and her soft hair on my neck.In addition, I think I was feeling a little weak at the knees. I remembered that moment years later when I used a slide rule in engineering school. Regrettably, calculators soon replaced the slide rule a few years later.

Finally came graduation day on that warm night in May. I remember we were all on the football field facing the visitor's side with guests on the home field side. Belinda happened to be one row in front of me and a few seats to the left. At some point during the ceremony I looked to the left at the same time she looked right and we made eye contact. She smiled and "CLICK" my mind took the image: sweet smile, bright eyes, yellow tassel dangling on her cheek, brown mortar board on her head, and dark hair resting gently on her shoulder. It was a smile of affirmation with a sweet hint of farewell.

I remember many things from High School, but the last and most enduring is.....BELINDA'S SMILE