THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 3, 1996 TAG: 9611010180
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: 135 lines
Monday, Oct. 21
Noon - Princess Anne Center for Pregnant Teens.
School nurse Susan Vierra has had a great weekend and she's eager to share her experience with other staff members.
``I just want you to know,'' Vierra says, ``that the American family is still alive and well. I was at Parents' Weekend at Virginia Tech and it renewed my faith that there are still strong families. There were parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings all over the place, all having fun.
``And you know,'' she added, ``a lot of them had to go home, get up to go to work at 6:30 this morning.''
``Like you?'' a co-worker asks.
``Like me,'' Vierra agrees with a chuckle.
- Jo-Ann Clegg
10:45 p.m. - Food Lion on Baxter Road.
A man and woman, obviously related, are waiting in the only open checkout line with a small basket of groceries. Nervously, the man is talking about an upcoming wedding ceremony.
``It's not like I'm going to convert or anything. We did the civil service thing long ago,'' he says, ``but now she wants to have the Catholic ceremony. Somebody's got to talk to the priest and tell him I'm OK. I've got a friend from work who'll do it. I was hoping you would stand up for me, too.''
The woman looks at him. ``You want your sister, the bisexual Wiccan, to vouch for your character to a priest? Don't the Catholics have rules about that kind of thing?''
A long silence ensues. ``But you're the only sister I've got,'' the man says at last. ``And the best.''
``OK,'' the woman tells him. She sighs and grins. ``I guess I'll have to leave my pointy hat and wand at home.''
``Thanks,'' the man says as they move ahead in the line.
- Kay Reynolds
Friday, Oct. 25
8:30 p.m. - Independence Middle School.
A hundred or more cars are jammed into the school's parking lot waiting for their middle-schoolers to come out of the first dance of the year.
The cafeteria doors open and the students come pouring out by the hundreds. It's mass confusion as parents and offspring try to locate each other in the darkness. One parent, however, can't resist the urge to needle his daughter a little.
``KELLY! OH, KELLY!'' shouts the man while waving frantically. ``KELLY WE'RE OVER HERE. YOO HOO. KELLY.''
He continues to shout until the girl, with her head down, quickly opens the car door, gets in and slumps down behind the front passenger seat.
- Lori A. Denney
Saturday, Oct. 26
4:45 p.m. - Kid's Cove
Two adults, a man and a woman, are struggling to remove a 3-year-old and a 4-year-old from the playground. The children do not want to go home. Eventually, the adults have to carry them off.
``I want to stay,'' the little girl wails. ``Why do we have to go?''
``Well, it's time, honey,'' the woman says. ``We'll come back next weekend.''
The woman tries to comfort her, and tries to be honest, too. ``I wish we could stay, too. But sometimes we all have to do things we don't want to do.''
A woman watching from a nearby bench, calls out, ``Why is that, Mommy?''
Mommy shakes her head. ``I don't know anymore,'' she says. ``I guess it's just the way it is.''
- Kay Reynolds
Sunday, Oct. 27
12:15 p.m. - Outside Wal-Mart.
Several adults and Cub Scouts in uniform are standing by a table outside the entrance. One of the boys approaches a couple, his earnest smile showing a mouth full of braces.
``Hi, my name is Nathan,'' he says. ``Would you like to buy some popcorn?''
They hesitate and look at each other. The woman takes a wishy-washy stand. ``Um, maybe when we come out,'' she hedges.
The boy smiles and nods ``OK.''
When the couple exit the discount store the same boy approaches them. His puppy-dog-brown eyes stare directly into the woman's green ones.
``Do you want to buy some popcorn?'' he repeats. ``It sells from $5 to $15.''
The woman, cornered, pulls out a $5 bill and takes a package of microwave popcorn. She looks sheepishly at her husband and points to their baby.
``I couldn't resist,'' she says. ``I kept thinking that in a few years our daughter will be doing the same thing.''
- Pam Starr
1 p.m. - Tidewater Community College
The SPCA's Walk for the Animals is getting under way. Many folks and their dogs are dressed in Halloween costumes. There's a beagle mix, dressed as a bumblebee, a whippet, outfitted as Cleopatra, and a chow in a cow costume complete with udders.
But one of the cutest is a toddler, dressed as a Dalmatian. Sparky, the city's fire prevention mascot, also a human dressed as a Dalmatian, thinks the little girl is cute, too.
Sparky sits down beside her in a friendly way, but the little Dalmatian has trouble recognizing her own breed. Eyes popping, she takes one look at the giant Dalmatian next to her and bursts into tears.
- Mary Reid Barrow
Wednesday, Oct. 30
6 p.m. - Newspaper office phone call.
Janeene Johnson isn't sure how she's supposed to thank everyone who helped with the birth of her daughter, Aaliyah, born about 7 a.m. Oct. 1.
Aaliyah, who was due Oct. 8, came early and caught her parents off guard. She was born at home.
Johnson says she had been in pain the night before, ``but when I went to the hospital they told me I was having contractions, but that I wasn't in true labor. They told me I was just excited because it was my first baby,'' she remembers.
Back at home on Ocean Trace Arch, Johnson said the night passed with the pains getting worse all the time. Finally, ``I knew we had to call somebody - either the doctor or 911. Then I decided we had to call 911 because I knew this would happen before I got to the hospital.''
When the emergency operator asked Daddy, Anthony Russell, how far apart the pains were, they knew the baby was coming - right then. ``There wasn't any far apart. They were all the time,'' Johnson says.
Russell was calm as the operator talked him through the delivery, Mom recalls. ``I was the one doing all the hollering.'' Moments after dad delivered Aaliyah, weighing 6 pounds, 2 ounces and measuring 19 1/4 inches, the ambulance arrived.
``When we got to the hospital, the rescue squad told them, `Here's the lady you said wasn't in true labor. She's back - with her baby,'' Johnson says, laughing.
Aaliyah was 1 month old Friday. Mom, dad and baby are just fine. Nevertheless, Johnson says, ``I'm sure Daddy would rather we went to the hospital to do this next time.''
- Melinda Forbes ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by CHARLIE MEADS
A couple walks holding each other close along the beach at Little
Island Park in Sandbridge on Oct. 30. With the temperature at 84 -
breaking a 50-year-old record - and a gentle breeze blowing off the
water, it was a perfect day for romantic walk on the sands. by CNB