...moving to NYC, part 2

Ok. Well, I guess I'm done feeling sorry for myself and admiring my perfectly polished toenails. Candy apple red. My favorite color for toe nails. And, while the interweb was down, I got almost ALL of the tornado of clothes in my room put away. I'm not quite ready to call my father and explain the recent water heater fiasco, so I may as well hunker down and try to finish this story.
Where was I? Oh yes. Terrified.

Riding the Dog from Austin, TX to my beautiful Manhattan. All by myself, 110 lbs in overalls and white keds, a small suitcase, and a short blonde bob that prompted David Viscoli to call me"Cindy Loo Who" (from the Grinch X-mas special).Convinced that my real family would never speak to me again - I felt more alone than I ever had.

I had kept in touch with my acting teacher from Interlochen. Mel Mrochinsky. He was a great teacher, and I thought of him as something of a father figure.
Mel Mrochinsky was about 6ft,1, a little overweight, bearded, wore lumberjack clothes and very intense eyeglasses - the kind that make people's eyes look a LOT bigger than they are - sort of googly. I don't know how old he was - but at the time, I guessed he was around 40. (very OLD to me)

I really trusted him. He had been very kind and encouraging to me at school. And that summer, he had gone out of his way to write me some very nice and very FLATTERING letters. About my acting.He invited me to break my journey to NYC at his place for a night - he had taken a job in South Carolina, wanted to show me around the school, etc - and I was more than happy to get off the bus for a free meal and a good night's sleep.

Sure enough, he was waiting for me at the bus station with his googly eyes and same old lumber-jack clothes....sure enough, he showed me around the college that he was teaching at - and made a big effort to convince me that i should be going THERE (no way in hell)...sure enough , he took me to dinner at some Waffle house place, and .....you're probably ahead of here...took me back to his little house where he had set up some blankets on the floor at the FOOT OF HIS BED.

The feelings hat started to set in at the site of this arrangement are hard to describe...but words like AKWARD don't come close. I felt sick. And scared. And hurt.
"Ummm...I could just sleep on the couch....I think I'd feel better out there.." I muttered - not looking at him, and turning 5 shades of red.
"Don't be silly, Jennifer", Mel said in his deep old man voice, turning it down to something between a whisper and a purr..."this way we can talk until we fall asleep.Who knows when I'll see you again. We still have a lot to talk about."

"We do? I'm pretty tired, actually..."
"Well, I'll do all the talking, and you just listen. Why don't you hop on into the bathroom and brush your teeth, put you PJ's on.."
' Maybe it would be ok after all? ', I thought as I washed my face and scrambled into some PJ's that were far too warm, but VERY covered up. I REALLY wanted to take a shower - but that would not be happening - the more Mel turned his purring voice on, the more I was getting creeped out.

When I came out of the bathroom, I was HORRIFIED to see my father-like acting teacher in an old white t-shirt that hugged his fat belly and his grey-white
underwear. I didn't know what to do, so I scrambled under the sheets at the foot of his bed and closed my eyes, yawning in an exaggerated manner.

I have to say, I've blocked out some of the details of that night. I just remember Mel leaning over the foot of the bed, purring away at me for what felt like hours...I think he was trying to put me to sleep. But it wasn't working. I was frozen in terror. And things just kept getting worse the more he talked. he said things like.."well, we're both adults now, after all. I've always considered you very mature for your age." ...and "you were always my favorite student..but you knew that, didn't you, Jennifer?"
I outlasted him, and eventually we both dosed off. Him first. But the first thing the next morning, I was awakened by his big sausage hand on my tiny breast. I just about jumped a mile! I do NOT remember what I said - but it was loud - and somehow I got him to take me to the God damned bus station without touching me again.

I was so fucking mad and grossed out! He made a move as if to hug me good bye - but I would have none of that. I think he started apologizing at the bus station - but also telling me that he had had an affair with another girl from Interlochen and that it was perfectly ok, and hat he HOPED I would come into my sexual maturiy in short order, and not end up being a frigid prude. It was SOOOOO important for my ACTING, after all...
I wanted to punch him in the face.

Once again, all 110 lbs of me was utterly alone, curled up into a tight little ball on the Dog....terrified.