We were a small sleepy southern town and the big thing for us was the football games on Friday nights or the drag races on Sunday afternoon and other normal activities. Drinking beer was the big deal for many of my friends but for some reason I never got into that until I went into the service.
I'll always remember the first day in high school and I was very careful not to wear green. I had heard horror stories of upperclassmen taking off the pants of any freshman wearing green of any type. This turned out to be untrue and I never heard of that happening to anyone in our class.
I had a friend that I had developed several years before H.S. His name was Larry R. Larry has died in the last year. We met when I went out for Little League baseball. Things are different now than they were then. At that time, you had to be good enough to get on a team and if not you were cut and could not play. I have no idea why I went out for Little League. I did not even have a glove, so I had to buy a glove to even try out. As you can expect having never even played catch with anyone. I went the first cut and was devastated. As I began to walk home that day Larry called me and said "hey, wait up". We had never even talked before that day. He walked with me as far as his house. I lived about twice as far as him from the park. He explained how he understood my feelings. We became life long friends on that day except until the later years went we grew apart. If I have ever loved a male friend it was him. Larry was killing himself with alcohol and cigarettes and it bothered me to see that with him. He and I had been so close. Larry had gone to local Catholic Elementary School but would have also gone to West Highland if not for that. Many of my stories may have Larry R. in them. Many of you will know who I am talking about. Larry, like me, had many demons and could not get around them, although he would say that I was wrong on that point. I will never forget him for befriending me when I was low. In later years in Vietnam he was a infantryman and was a point man on patrols in the jungle. I know it bothered him a lot but he never wanted to talk about it. Larry, old man, I miss you.
When I turned 15, I got a job with Mr. Taylor at the local A&P. The following fall in high school I entered what they called D.E. (distributive education). I went to school until 11 A.M. then I would leave school and go to work until the A&P closed. I did this to help out with the finances at home. I missed much of the high school activities because of this especially since I did it my Junior and Senior years in high school.
I pestered my mom that I needed some transportation to get to work since we did not have a car. The local Western Auto had a beautiful Mitsubishi Silver Pigeon scooter that I had seen in the store and wanted. Mom came through and bought it for me. I still regret the financial difficulties I caused her. But I also wonder if my life would have changed if I was at school the entire day for both of my last 2 years. Here again I felt like I missed so much in life. Well, Larry R. and I became one on that scooter. I will never forget the day we left school and was coming up Pulaski St, we had to go over the railroad tracks before reaching the square. Well, it rained hard all day but had now stopped, I hit the brakes and they grabbed and the scooter went down which meant that Larry and I both also went down. I slid on my butt all the way up to the curb of the square. Larry did not go quite so far I guess because as he always told me, he saw it coming. I drove that scooter to fast and have always loved speed. Thank God neither of us was hurt but the scooter was scratched up pretty bad.
I met Danny while we both worked at the A&P. I would later be in Danny's and Linda's wedding. I did not know we were that close but that told me all I needed to know, he liked me. We are still friends today constantly exchanging emails. I think a lot of Danny and Linda.
The whole time in high school I kept tabs on Peggy as I really liked her but I never approached her. There in comes one of my stupidest stunts. We had a hang out called the Redwood Inn. I was up there one Sunday night and a kid that I cant recall his name approached me and shoved his hand out and showed me a wedding band saying he had gotten married. I knew he was pulling my leg but this lead to our cooking up a scheme that I would wear the ring to school the next day and not show it or anything but just go around as usual. He would come to school later and tell the story that I had a shotgun wedding with some girl from Lynnville which was several towns away to our east. I walked around as if I had lost my best friend. Now here is my stupid point. I did this to get Peggy's attention. I still ask myself how stupid could I have been. Well, it got around pretty quick if you know what I mean. You know how rumors in high school would get around quick. I could see groups look at me and start whispering. Things progressed for 2 days but on the 3rd day, Mr. Few called me to his office. He asked me if it was true and I said no it was just a joke. He told me that it ended when I left his office. I had to somehow get word around that it was a joke. I started the truth and it started getting out. I even came to school the next morning in Mr. Hudson's home room there was a knock on the door and as he opened his door a long line of girls started coming in. They came over to my desk and had an informal wedding party for me with gifts and cards. They had gotten in the last laugh on me. Boy was I embarrassed. I have brought up the subject and guess what as bad as it was no one remembers it. The bad part was that day when I got home my mother asked me about it. Telling her it was a joke was not fun. And I did this to get a girl's attention. What was wrong with me?
The Redwood Inn was also home to one of my biggest mistakes. I have told no one this until this day. My friend, Anne, was there and we began to talk. She did not have her drivers licence and I said come on I'll teach you. We went out aways from there and I stopped my car and let her get behind the wheel. She started out doing good but we needed to turn a corner. Remember I loved speed. She started to slow down what I thought was too much and I said speed up. Worst thing I could have done. She split the corner exactly and centered my car on a tree. It was a big bill since I had already had a recent wreck myself. But my insurance did not cover other drivers so I could not tell the truth. Sorry Mom for having to lie to you.
The biggest happening while I was in high school was the assassination of Pres. John F. Kennedy. Can never forget exactly where I was when I heard about it. I was in German 201 with Crazy Jack Phillips as my teacher. The class had just started when Principal Few came over the intercom and told us that the President had been shot and was not expected to live. Today I respect what Crazy Jack did very much. He had a record player and he got all of his Patriotic music out and played it the rest of the class. No one spoke we just listened to patriotic music. We were in the basement and some of us kept looking out of the windows (for what I don't know).
One of the biggest thing for all of us guys was playing pool at the Depot Street pool hall. I still remember their hot dogs as the best ones I have ever had. It cost a dine to pay a game of 9 ball but we usually bet upwards of a dollar on the game but usually a quarter. So many guys here it is hard to remember all of them. Then somewhere along the line Mr. Brown opened another pool hall. Guess what it was called Brownie's. Many days were spent in these pool halls when we were supposed to be in school. Cutting school to play pool was no big deal unless your parents found out about it. Mine never did thank God.
The highlight of my week though was going to the drag races with my Brother-in-Law on Sunday afternoons in Ethridge, TN. My brother in-law built a lot of the engines that guys used in their cars. I was so engrossed in the cars and how they ran. I'll never forget that I got to wipe Ronnie's wheels down on his school bus yellow '62 Chevy. It was a 409 and was hot for the times. Once in while we had cars come in from Nashville, Huntsville and other surrounding areas. They were the especially fun days. My love for cars today stems from those days.
Well, it was time for the Senior Prom, what was I going to do? I could not dance but I very much wanted to ask Peggy to the Prom. Somehow I got up the nerve and asked her. She said yes. Boy was I thrilled. I did not think I had a chance in the world with her. I always thought she was too good for me. I asked Nina to give me some dance lessons. I still remember her laughing and saying nobody watches you anyway what does it matter. It mattered to me since I was going to be with Peggy. She showed me how to slow dance and how to hold a girl. I didn't even know that. She showed me how to twist and to bop. Unbeknownst to me Peggy had never been to a dance either since she was a Church of Christ girl. Later I found out she was as nervous as me. All in all we had a great time and went to breakfast at 2 or 3 AM. This only made my fantasy about Peggy grow.
High school graduation only lead me to some of the most mixed up times of my life.
No comments:
Post a Comment