After the falls: Cathy's friendships

Cathy speaks of many different friendships throughout her memoir. Two friendships that greatly influenced her life were those of Fran "hit the dirt" Stephens and Laurie Coal. Fran Stephens had an impact on Cathy's life because, through their friendship, Cathy was exposed to things that she otherwise would not have been. Cathy already stayed her distance from males after the Donny Burns incident and this particular incident with Fran certainly did not help matters. Upon spying on Fran's older brother's "fraternity meeting", Cathy witnessed a horrible event where the entire fraternity invited over a girl, "Veronica Nebozenko" and all eight members, essentially raped her. This event was traumatic for obvious reasons and left Cathy horrified. Fran was also a part of Cathy's "Black Lawn Jockey" movement. Cathy found these antique lawn ornaments offensive, and with good reason. After sending letters to all the houses which displayed this ornament on their lawn, Cathy was disappointed with the result. Only two houses out of a total of thirty-nine houses removed their lawn jockeys. Cathy came up with a plan "B". This plan involved an event where the faces of the black lawn jockeys would be painted white. Cathy told Fran not to invite anyone else because it would not produce positive results. Fran ignored Cathy’s request and brought along "thugs" named "Jitters" and "Joe". As predicted by Cathy, the extra company got out of hand and started lighting lawns on fire. At this point Cathy declared to Fran, "If you know what's good for you, you will come with me now. I swear I will never speak to you again if you don't." Fran chose to stay with the thugs. Cathy realized that she "had come to the end of the line with Fran," and that they could, "never be friends again." This declaration demonstrates how Cathy did not approve of Fran's negative influence on her. Through ending her friendship with Fran, Cathy confirmed her independence.

Cathy meets Laurie Coal on her prize trip to New York after winning the essay contest. After the contest, Cathy thought that Laurie was a female and was unsurprised when they were assigned to room together for the trip. Cathy reflects on her first encounter with Laurie by saying, "I opened the door and was taken aback to see an amazingly handsome black man sitting up in the king-sized bed." Cathy gradually gets to know Laurie over the course of the trip and they become good friends. She says that, "Everything I liked, he liked. And when I was with him, time flew". After the trip, once Cathy returns to university in Ohio, Laurie visits her, saying he attends Ohio State on a football scholarship. They also spend a lot of time together there. However, Cathy never interrogates him on his life at Ohio State or how he makes his income. While working with the "Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee", she uncovers another part of Laurie's life, which she did not know about. This is unearthed when one day, someone working with the committee says to Laurie, "You think Splits don't tell me gots yourself a wife and kids at home." Upon learning this, Cathy forever loses interest in political affairs and loses her ability to place trust into others, especially men. This loss caused Cathy to reflect on her life and to become a stronger person. Perhaps this is partly how she was able to cope with her father's illness so well, as she had personally been a victim to things that could be considered far more emotionally damaging than her father’s illness. In conclusion, although Cathy had many friendships in her lifetime, there were some that had a greater influence on her than others. Fran's friendship influenced her decision making throughout adolescence, while Laurie's betrayal strengthened Cathy's ability to handle unfortunate situations.