“You ask how much I need you, must I explain?
I need you, oh my darling, like roses need rain.
You ask how long I'll love you; I'll tell you true:
Until the twelfth of never, I'll still be loving you…
…Until the twelfth of never and that's a long, long time.” (The Twelfth of Never/Jerry Livingston)
The first time I heard the song TWELFTH OF NEVER, sung by Johnny Mathis, my oldest sister, Maxine was having one of her teenage parties at our house. I was 8 and she was 17. It was a Saturday night, and my parents were at the Family Poker Party, the twice a month date night for my parents, and Maxine was supposedly babysitting my younger sister and I. Loved my oldest sister, but on her Party Nights, she was a real tyrant, and informed us that, my little sister and I had better stay upstairs when Maxine’s friends came by…OR ELSE. (At that stage of my life I still feared the OR ELSE). We were bribed by allowing us to have snacks (the really sugary type and any kind of POP we wished to drink…Yes, POP, in Pittsburghese it translates to soda or Coke). We obeyed for the moment, but both my little sister and I had other plans for the evening. Maxine’s friends arrived about 8:00 pm, (I remember this because the Lawrence Welk program was over at 7:00, and my parents had Lawrence Welk on the TV-stereo, as a kind of prelude to Saturday night fun, and usually told us at the conclusion of Lawrence Welk, we could watch our programs on the only TV in the house) Francie and I (Francie, my little sister), acted like GREAT siblings, we stayed quiet (after demanding our own bag of potato chips and dip, a bag of pretzels and any kind of chocolate candy Maxine had purchased for her party). We heard the laughter and blah, blah, blah of her friends, and both Francie and I reenacted what we thought they looked like as they entered the house. (It was a total nerd laugh riot for us).
Francie and I were actually overly salted and sweetened out of our stomachs, wishing, and wanting no crappier food.it was about two hours after that the food coma ended, and Francie and I felt energized. Our house had 14 steps that led to the second floor. At the seventh step, there was a semi-shelf for one to lean on and look at the living room below. If a person snuck, very quietly from the second floor to the seventh step, he or she could glance at the living room and its occupants. We decided to do just that and actually see what teenagers did at a party. Oh so quietly and stealthfully Francie and I snuck to the seventh step and peeked at the party. And low and behold, on the chair that reclined, was Maxine and her boyfriend, Butch. She was on his lap, and they were kissing! It took everything, within me to hold back my YUCK sound, and for Francie to not giggle. The song playing was ‘The Twelfth of Never.’ Francie and I ran up the stairs to our front room and slammed the door. We both regrated what we witnessed.
Today, August 1, 2021, I read news about cows in Mexico starving for lack of grazing space. I read that actual species of both birds and animals in Northern California were dying due to the series of Wild Fires. I read that the Amazon Forest is on the brink of everlasting doom and destruction because the government is selling off acres of land for development. Somehow the lyrics of the song Twelfth of Never found a place inside my head. I used to think of those lyrics in a ‘MAKE-OUT’ kind of mushy way…but now I wonder when and EVER, this world will be a place of humans, flora/fauna, and wildlife habitation!
