However, no two people interpret the same event the same way. The following Saturday morning Hamm walked into the drugstore and nodded at Bertha Ann and Thelma, said, "Hello, girls," went straight back to the pharmacy, stuck his hand over the counter, and shook Doc's hand. "Sir, my name is Hamm Sparks and I just wanted to ask you if it would be all right with you if I married Betty Raye."
Doc, who had heard about this character but had never met him, was a little thrown. "I don't know. I suppose it depends on her. What does she say?"
"I haven't asked her yet but I can assure you that you won't have to worry. I have a fairly good job now and as soon as I finish college I intend to do even better in the future. I'm thinking about going into public service and people tell me I have a pretty good shot at it."
"I see," said Doc.
Hamm said, "Yes sir, and I sure would appreciate if you would put in a good word for me," and handed him his card. "Bye, ladies," he said on the way out.
"Who was that little banty rooster?" Bertha Ann asked.
Doc laughed. "Betty Raye's boyfriend. Or so he thinks."
Thelma was surprised. "Your Betty Raye?"
"That's what he says."
Bertha Ann said, "Well, whoever he is, he sure is a cute little thing. Doc, you tell Betty Raye for me she better watch out or I'm liable to steal him."
Thelma, still amazed that Betty Raye even had a boyfriend, said, "Well, I guess it's true what they say."
"What?" asked Bertha Ann.
"Still waters run deep."
"I could have told you that," Bertha Ann said. "It's those quiet ones you have to watch out for."
Doc did not mention the young man's visit to Dorothy, Betty Raye, or Mother Smith. Where women were concerned, when the subject was romance he had learned that it was best to stay out of it and let them deal with it on their own, so he wisely kept his mouth shut and let nature take its course.
As it turned out, Doc was glad he had not said anything. After the first date Betty Raye heard no more from Hamm.
After a month went by Betty Raye had more or less forgotten about Hamm Sparks but that thought had never occurred to him. It had not taken him long to make up his mind. He had known after that first date that he wanted to marry her, so why wait? He was almost twenty-seven, in a hurry to get married and get started on his career, so the next day he got busy making plans for both of them. The first thing he had to do was get the money. The next day he talked the district manager of Allis Chalmers into letting him sell in three more areas. It took him almost a month, working nights and all weekend, but he finally earned enough money to make a down payment, plus a little left over.
The next Friday Hamm put on his brand-new blue suit from Sears and drove over to Elmwood Springs with the box in his pocket. He had not bothered to inform Betty Raye he was coming because he wanted to surprise her. He walked up the steps to the house and knocked. Dorothy came to see who was there.
"Hello, Mrs. Smith, is Betty Raye here?"
"Well, hello, Hamm." Dorothy opened the door. "Yes, she is. Come on in. We are just sitting down for supper; why don't you come in and join us."
"Thank you, I think I will, if it's all right."
"Of course it is, all I have to do is set a plate. You just go on in the dining room and sit down." She called down the hall as she went to the kitchen, "Betty Raye, everybody, Hamm is here."
When Doc looked up and saw the new blue suit coming in the door, he thought to himself, Uh-oh, here comes trouble. Hamm walked into the dining room and said, "Hi, everybody," pulled out a chair, and sat down across from Betty Raye. Everybody said hello but Jimmy just nodded. He was not sure about this guy. A little too pushy for his taste.
Hamm soon sat there eating and talking all about tractors, farmers, Allis Chalmers and anything else that came to mind, including a joke he had just heard. Bobby thought he was funny and liked him right away but Betty Raye was confused. She did not know whether she was glad to see him again or not. She liked him O.K." she guessed, but he made her so nervous the way he talked so fast and moved so fast that she didn't know what to think. She was embarrassed that he had just shown up like that but it had not seemed to bother anyone else. Mother Smith and Doc and Dorothy chatted away as if nothing was out of the ordinary.
After dinner Betty Raye picked up a few plates and started for the kitchen, relieved to get away for a while. He had grinned at her all through dinner and she had felt herself blushing every time he caught her eye. But Dorothy said, "Betty Raye, you put those down and go out on the porch and visit with your young man. He's come all this way to see you. Mother Smith and I will do the dishes tonight." Betty Raye had no choice but to go. When Doc and Bobby got up to go out on the porch with them, Dorothy gave Doc a funny look.
"Don't you and Bobby have a ball game to listen to tonight?" she said in a high voice, blinking her eyes.
"What?" he said.
She fired him another look and he finally figured it out. "Oh, yeah.
Bobby, come on with me, let's go listen to the ball game."
"What ball game? They don't have a game tonight," he said as his father led him away by the back of his neck to the parlor. Jimmy excused himself and headed out the back door to the VFW for his poker night with his buddies and Betty Raye found herself on the way to the porch, wondering how someone she did not even know at all well had suddenly become her young man.
They sat on the porch and after a few minutes Hamm reached in his pocket and handed her the little box. "Open it," he said.
She asked, "What is it?"
"Open it. I bought you a ring."
She was puzzled. "Why?"
"Because I want you to marry me."
First she was not quite sure what she had heard. Hamm may have had this in mind for a month but for her this had come out of the blue.
"What?" she said again.
"Will you marry me?"
"Me?"
"Yes, you. What do you say?"
By this time she was so flustered she didn't know what to do, so she handed the box back and said, "Oh, thank you for asking but I don't think I want to get married. I hope I haven't hurt your feelings or anything but I can't. I have a job, I'm sorry," she said. "I have to go in but thank you anyway." And she stumbled into the screen door and said, "Oh, excuse me," to the door and went in, leaving him sitting in the swing.
This was not exactly how Hamm had envisioned the evening turning out. But it was only one night.
Hamm did not give up. Every free moment he had he came over to see her. He would show up at the cafeteria and go down the line singing out, "Aw, come on, honey, say you will, I'm coming back every night until you say yes." He even started to show up at the bowling alley. Ada and Bess Goodnight, pulling for him, told him where they would be and all the women on the team liked him and encouraged Betty Raye to let him drive her home, which she did.
This went on for weeks. Doc said, "I'd hate to have that boy chasing after me. Hell, at this point I'll marry him and he hasn't even asked me."
Weeks of this kind of intense attention and flattery is hard to resist, even to someone who does not want to get married. But Betty Raye did not have much choice in the matter. Hamm was like a small tornado and she got caught up in the whirlwind and, like most women, was at first curious and then dazzled by him.
That night he had parked the car in front of the house. "Now, Betty Raye, you can't go in until I get just one little kiss. Just one. You don't want to break my heart, do you?"
After one and then more than one, she walked onto the porch and into the house in a daze and said to Dorothy, "I think I might be engaged."
After Betty Raye had gone to her room Mother Smith spoke to Dorothy.
"Now, personally, you know, I like him, but I worry that that boy has just come in here and swept her right off her feet."