"Rick, who are you taking to the Junior Prom?" Tess asked her older brother.
"Fran Donatelli. You've met
her. We've gone to the movies a few times, and I like her a lot."
"Are you two serious about each
other?"
"Not very…yet…but who knows
what will happen in the future?"
Fran was Rick's classmate—smart,
rather pretty, new to town, and still making friends. Her family had moved in
earlier that year, and Rick liked her. She was good to talk with and
appreciated his sense of humor. She seemed pleased to have been invited to the
Prom by him. It didn't seem likely that someone else would be asking her.
Rick bought the prom tickets early,
spending much of the money he'd earned from his part-time job. The tickets
weren't cheap, and he'd be renting a tuxedo and buying Fran a corsage. He knew
Fran would likely spend a lot on a fancy dress for the dance, although, being a
doctor's daughter, it would probably be easier for her to come up with the
money than for him.
A couple of weeks before the Prom,
Rick learned that Fran had told a friend she would have preferred to go with
another classmate—Brian Mullins, a particularly good-looking guy, a popular
athlete, and a friend of Rick's. When Rick heard this, it hurt.
A day or two later, Rick called Fran
and asked if she'd said what he'd heard, that she'd prefer to go to the Prom
with Brian. She was honest and admitted she had said it.
Rick took a breath. "Well, I'm
not taking you, so you're free to go with Brian, if he asks you."
It wasn't an easy decision. Rick
didn't like letting anyone down, and he'd already spent money he'd worked hard
to earn. But he didn't want to spend the evening with someone who'd rather be
there with someone else. He still had those tickets, though.
He discussed it with Jeanne, the
girlfriend of one of his buddies, Billy, a guy who was away in the Navy. Rick
and Jeanne had always been good friends, but just friends. She wouldn't be
going to the Prom because Billy was now overseas. They agreed to go together,
which was fine with Billy. They had a great time.
Brian never did ask Fran to the
Prom, preferring to go with another girl, so Fran stayed home that night.
Rick's parents were glad he hadn't
let Fran treat him with open disrespect. She should not have accepted the date,
or she should have kept quiet about wanting to go with another guy.
"Sometimes, 'silence is
golden,'" Rick's mother commented.
Mr. Williams added, "You know,
Rick, during World War II, there was an expression that was widely used: 'Loose
lips sink ships.' It meant that information like the sailing dates and routes
of troop ships and supply ships shouldn't be talked about, for fear that enemy
agents would use the information to aid the Germans or the Japanese we were
fighting against."
"Well, Dad," Rick said,
"her loose lips sank Fran's Prom."
Moral: Be careful what you say. Preserve privacy.
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