1960s. Campus of the Collegeof Southern California.
“Not another tie-dyed tapestry!” Rachel shouted over the music as her roommate Judy entered their dorm room. Rachel was sitting on the tapestry-draped sofa, sewing patches on a pair of torn and faded blue jeans. “You’ve already covered the walls and the ceilings and our beds. What’s left?”
Judy shook out the psychedelic cloth and draped it around herself. “Our own bodies! I thought we could cut skirts and scarves out of it.”
Rachel’s other roommate, Barbara, stuck her head out of the bedroom of the two-room suite. “Admit it, Judy, you’re as sick of tie-dye as we are. You just can’t resist that scruffy guy who sells T-shirts and stuff on the corner!”
Judy smiled dreamily. “He is scruffy, isn’t he?”
“Oh, no,” Rachel groaned. She put a hand to the beaded headband around her forehead. “She’s in love!”
Still swathed in tie-dye, Judy bounced onto the couch next to Rachel. “I am. And we have a date, sort of,” she informed her roommates. “We’re going to hang out together at the SPAN meeting tonight!”
There were a lot of clubs and organizations on campus, but Rachel hadn’t heard of this one. “SPAN?”
“Students for Progressive Action Now. It’s a new awareness-and-activism group,” Barbara explained. “There are signs up all over the dorm.”
Students for Progressive Action Now—it sounded interesting, Rachel thought. “Maybe I’ll check it out,” she said.
As a favorite Rolling Stones song came on the radio, Rachel couldn’t help thinking how much fun campus life was turning out to be. She’d only been at the College of Southern California for a couple of months, but already she had a lot of wonderful new friends, and every day she was exposed to all sorts of new ideas. What she learned in class was only part of it; it seemed to Rachel that some of her most educational experiences took place outside of the classroom. There were just so many things to care about—civil rights, women’s liberation—and students all over the country had decided that they weren’t going to spend all their time with their noses in books. Everyone agreed that awareness and activism were where it was at.
When the song was over, Barbara turned down the volume on the radio. “Do you mind?” she asked her roommates. “I’m going to try to study until dinner.”
“We’re mellow,” Rachel assured her. “Hey, you know who’ll probably be at the SPAN meeting? My cousin, Ned. It’s just the kind of thing he digs.”
Barbara forgot about studying for a moment. “Then I’m definitely going. Anything to catch a glimpse of the cutest, grooviest guy on campus.”
Rachel laughed. She was always amused by the way her female friends responded to her handsome, dynamic cousin. “I’m afraid a glimpse is all you’re going to catch,” she told Barbara. “Ned doesn’t seem to have time for dating. All his energy goes to his causes.”
“Too bad!” said Barbara.
Rachel trimmed a piece of flowered fabric to use as a patch and thought about her cousin. Ned didn’t even seem to know he was good-looking—he just wasn’t concerned with that sort of thing. Too busy trying to change the world, she thought fondly. Sometimes she was a little sad that she and Ned didn’t get to spend as much time together as they had in high school. Their dorms were only a stone’s throw apart, but they took completely different classes—Ned was prelaw, while she was interested in history and sociology. She’d probably never see him if she didn’t bump into him at rallies and concerts.
The door to the suite was ajar. Now someone pushed it open all the way. “Can I come in, folks?”
Rachel look up. Her jaw dropped. “Becky?” she asked, by no means sure that the girl standing in the doorway was her hallmate, Becky Foster.
“It’s me!” Becky floated into the room, the tiny bells on her gauzy Indian-print cotton skirt jingling.
Rachel glanced at Judy, who raised her eyebrows. Rachel knew her roommate was thinking the same thing she was: Since when had Becky Foster, a snooty debutante, become a flower child? Instead of wearing one of her usual conservative, elegant outfits, Becky was letting it all hang out. Over the long flowing skirt she wore an embroidered peasant blouse; around her neck were strings of iridescent beads, and matching earrings dangled from her lobes; her glossy black hair fell loose to her shoulders; her feet were bare.
“What’s up, Becky?” Rachel asked cautiously. Becky didn’t usually hang out with them. Early on, Becky had tried to strike up a friendship with Rachel. But once she had found out that Rachel couldn’t or wouldn’t help her get to know Ned better, Becky had dropped Rachel like a stone.
“Don’t call me Becky. My name is Rainbow now.”
“Rainbow?” Rachel could see her roommates trying hard not to giggle.
Becky-Rainbow nodded seriously. “I’ve recently discovered that I have Native American blood,” she explained. “I’m one-sixteenth Indian.”
“So where does the rainbow concept come in?” Barbara wondered.
“Because of my Indian heritage, I feel I am a prism of personality.” Rainbow lifted her chin with a proud expression. “With many hidden colors and talents.”
A prism of personality? Rachel thought she might gag. She’d never heard such garbage. A giggle exploded from Judy, who started coughing to cover it up.
“Anyway, I just dropped in to make sure you were all coming to the organizational meeting of SPAN tonight. And did I hear you mention that your cousin’s planning to go?” Rainbow asked Rachel.
Rachel couldn’t believe it. Rainbow must have been eavesdropping! “We’ll be there. Why?”
“I’m one of the coordinators of SPAN,” Rainbow answered.
“You helped start SPAN?” Barbara said in disbelief. “You’re the one who put up all the posters about awareness and activism?”
Rainbow nodded as she glided toward the door. “See you there.”
When Becky was gone, the three roommates stared at one another. “Tell me I imagined that whole scene,” Rachel demanded.
“It was for real,” Judy told her. “But whether Becky’s for real, that’s another story.”
“I don’t see how she could go through such a complete transformation overnight,” Barbara said doubtfully. “One day she’s the snobbiest, most self-centered, most conniving girl on campus, and then the next day she’s suddenly the high priestess of hippiedom!”
“Maybe we’re making too big a deal out of this,” Judy said. “It’s possible Becky has a genuine interest in becoming an activist. People can change.”
Rachel had serious doubts, but she decided to keep them to herself. She believed in giving people a chance, and there was no proof that Becky had ulterior motives. No proof yet, Rachel thought as she resumed stitching the patch on her jeans and humming along with the radio. But something about Rainbow’s seemingly casual question about Ned made her wonder.
The SPAN meeting convened at sunset on the lawn outside the student union. Ned spotted his cousin, wearing hip-hugger jeans and a psychedelic tank top, sitting cross-legged at the front of the gathering. He himself had on a tie-dyed T-shirt and cutoffs, and he wore his shoulder-length brown hair in a ponytail.
He made his way to Rachel’s side and dropped to the grass beside her. “What’s shakin’, Rach?” he greeted her.
“Hi, Ned! I was wondering when you’d show up.”
“I was rapping with a couple of other prelaw students about starting an alternative law society on campus,” he explained. “I lost track of the time.”
At that moment, a beautiful black-haired girl who’d been sitting nearby rose to her feet. Lifting one graceful arm, she waved for quiet. A hush fell over the chattering groups of students.
“My name is Rainbow.” The girl’s soft, musical voice made Ned think of a mountain stream. “And these are Joshua, Candy, and Lenny. We’re going to share with you some of the goals we hope SPAN can achieve. Then we want you to stand up and speak to us about the issues you feel need progressive action now.”
Ned elbowed Rachel. “Hey, I think I know her. She’s in a couple of my prelaw classes.”
“I know her, too. She lives in my dorm. And her name isn’t really Rainbow,” Rachel said disparagingly. “It’s Becky Foster. As in daughter of ultra-conservative Judge Leonard Foster and society queen Mimi Foster.”
Ned stared at Rainbow. She definitely looked familiar from class, but he felt as if he were seeing her for the first time. He couldn’t believe he hadn’t taken more notice of her before.
Rainbow and the other SPAN leaders presented their agenda, then opened up the meeting as promised. People took turns tossing out ideas, many of which Ned thought were great. It really looked like SPAN was going to turn out to be a group with spirit and substance.
He turned to his cousin, surprised to see that she looked skeptical; he’d expected her usual enthusiasm. “Don’t you dig SPAN, Rach? Rainbow’s really on your wavelength. Women’s issues seem to be her top priority.”
“I doubt that,” Rachel muttered under her breath.
“What?”
“Oh, nothing.” Rachel pulled her long hair over one shoulder and began braiding it. “You know, Ned, you should try to talk to Becky—er, Rainbow after the meeting.”
Ned nodded. “I’d like to find out what inspires her.”
“I bet it will be very enlightening,” Rachel predicted. “Well, I’m off to the library.”
As the gathering broke up Ned crossed the lawn to where Rainbow stood jotting down names and phone numbers of people who wanted to help plan activities. “Put my name in there,” he said. “I’m Ned Wakefield.”
A radiant smile illuminated Rainbow’s face. “I know who you are. You’re in Professor Kalben’s American government class, right? And Professor Young’s Introduction to Legal Process. Those classes are killers, huh? I’m glad you want to get involved with SPAN.”
“I think you have some great ideas,” Ned told her. “I admire people who don’t just sit by when they see that there’s something wrong with society.”
“We have a duty to take action, don’t we?” Rainbow’s big brown eyes smoldered with passionate conviction. “A duty to our planet and to every man, woman, and child living in it.”
“You’re right, but a lot of people don’t think that way.”
“Maybe it’s my Native American ancestry,” Rainbow mused. “I feel somehow connected to the earth and its creatures.”
“Hey, my great-great-grandmother was half Awaswan Indian.”
Rainbow gasped. “I’m a descendant of the Awaswans, too.”
Ned shook his head. “Wow! What a coincidence.”
“I think it’s more than a coincidence.” Rainbow stepped closer to him. Ned noticed that she smelled like jasmine— warm, sweet, and sensuous. “Some kind of cosmic force has brought us together, Ned. We were meant to work together in the cause of justice.”
Ned was mesmerized. Sometimes he felt shy around girls—girls other than his cousin, that is. But Rainbow wasn’t just beautiful, she was committed. He felt incredibly drawn to her. “I hope you’ll let me help you get this group off the ground,” he said. “In fact, why don’t we get together tomorrow night and talk about it?”
Rainbow’s lips curved in a pleased smile. “I’d like that.”
“The snack bar at nine?”
“I’ll be there. And Ned?” She touched his arm as he started to turn away. “Bring your government books too, OK? Maybe we could talk about that paper assignment.”
“Sure.” Ned tossed her a goodbye wave. “Keep the faith.”
“Stay cool,” she returned.
Shouldering his ragged canvas backpack, Ned headed toward the library. The western sky was streaked with sunset colors. The colors of the rainbow. Ned laughed at himself for having such a corny thought. He wasn’t usually the romantic type. Between studying and extracurricular activities, he didn’t have much time for romance. But he had a feeling he’d be making time for it in the very near future.
