I shared this incident from my life at our greater Family Home Evening last night so am retelling it now for at family members who didn't hear it.
I was 14 years old and a new Freshman at Roosevelt High School in Portland. I was invited to a party at the home of three girls who used to attend the same ward as as I did, only they had moved to west Portland. My friend Dolores and her boyfriend brought me to the party. As soon as I got there I could tell something was wrong--the parents were not home. (red flag #1). There were some boys from another school in another room who were drinking something that was't good for them. (red flag #2). Couples began pairing off and they started dancing in a dark room. (red flag #3). There was one other girl who didn't pair off. Standing by the potato chip bowl in the kitchen, I told her I decided to take a bus home and did she want to go with me? She did.
My dad worked at The Journal Newspaper on Saturday nights. Mom was home with my younger sister and brother, and she didn't drive anyway. I didn't even know we had a home teacher. It was getting late and the busses only ran about once every hour.
I had to choose whether to get off one bus and wait for another bus that went near my home or ride around to Lombard Street and walk about eight blocks home alone in the dark. I decided to wait for the other bus. (Caroline had to take a different bus). There were no street lights when I got off the bus.
There was a tavern still open on the northeast corner where the second bus would stop. The northwest corner had a closed grocery store with one light hanging from a cord at the back of the store. The southeast corner had a closed gas station--no lights, and the southwest corner had a drugstore/fountain with a little night light in the back. The doorway was cut across the corner where I decided to wait because it would shelter me a little but I could still see the bus coming. I waited for what I would guess was about half an hour when a car pulled up alongside the curb by the pharmacy and two big guys (I think they were wearing trenchcoats but that might be part of my imagination). They started asking questions about the bus schedule. I edged out of the doorway and stood at the curb waiting for a car to make a left turn. I intended to go into the tavern where there would be other people for some kind of safety. The car stopped right in the middle of the intersection and a young male voice callked out, "Lois, do you need a ride?" I sure needed that ride! If they knew who I was, that was good enough. As I got closer, I saw that it was Dolores' older brother and his neighbor friend.
Maybe the Lord sent them like angels. If I had not been standing at the curb at that very moment, they couldn't have seen me in the darkened doorway. That was my blessing for leaving the party when I did.
