The Threat

Yes, we were what you'd call free range kids back in the 60's way before the phrase came into usage. I was 20, my baby sister who wasn't much of a baby anymore was 14.  I had transferred to Boston U. in my Junior year to be near Steve.  It was early summer, when I picked Patty up at Logan Airport. She seemed to waft off the plane.

I took her to my apartment in Allston. Later when we were wandering around the neighborhood, an innocent flyer publicizing a trip to Israel caught our eye.  We were two sisters looking for adventure and love. My relationship with Steve was having its ups and downs.

We phoned home that evening and proposed the scheme to our parents - For some not to be understood even to this day reason, my frugal father said, "Yes, you two girls can go."

The first thing that we did was go to a downtown Boston department store to buy short shorts. We knew that Israelis in no way wore Bermuda shorts. Somehow, we got our shots and they must have expedited my sister getting a passport.

The days were drawing closer to our departure, but I was having second thoughts.  Things had shifted with Steve; I wanted to stay close to his side.  But Patty was adamant. "If you don't go with me, forget about having anything to do with me for the rest of your life," she said in a voice that brought a blade to my heart. For some reason, I believed her.

At that point, Patty left my place and went to stay with Tom and Rose.  Tom and Rose were high school friends of Steve's who'd motorcycled from St. Louis to Boston. They'd found an a rickety apartment in Roxbury where Tom painted and Rose went out to earn money as a nude model.  Into macrobiotics, a bowl of brown rice and a pair of chopsticks were always in view and you'd hear Vivaldi as you stepped through the door.

Rose must have been the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen with deep brown eyes, long straight hair, features even and smooth - Tom was short with wire rimmed glasses and very clever.

This was where Patty stayed while I tried to sort myself out. For a while, there were two camps: Steve and me on one side of the Jordan and Patty, Tom, and Rose on the other. We kept a distance. But in the end, I knew that Steve would be going back home to St. Louis for the summer. I'd lived in Israel at age 17 as an exchange student. I  knew that I'd been my most spunky self at that time, maybe it could happen again.  So with some reluctance, I agreed to undertake the journey with my kid sister.