Over the course of Scotty’s freshman year in high school he and Cindy became like peas in a pod, like baseball and cracker jacks. They spent every moment they could with each other. Most of those moments were spent in her parents’ basement, studying the art of ‘making out’ and ‘smoking grass’. Cindy’s parents worked a lot and like most kids Scotty and Cindy thought that leaving the vent window just above ground level in the basement would clear away any evidence that they’d been doing something bad – and like most parents, Cindy’s weren’t fooled a bit.
A distance grew in the old gang. Jack was on a steady track to the Honor’s Club and graduating early and all that. Tony and Darrel – more Tony, Darrel had an impenetrable self esteem – treated him a little different. Scotty was excited and called them all up after his first ‘make out’ session with Cindy, but the guys weren’t nearly as happy for him as he’d hoped. Tony was the ladies man, not in the kind appreciative gentle way that Scotty was, but Tony was the one with the right lines and the right clothes and everything. Darrel was just ‘King Poo-Bah’. It didn’t take long for the coaches to notice Darrel’s athletic ability, and with jockdom comes girls, girls, girls. It’s almost a commandment. Maybe it was in the way he talked about it, maybe it was the way him and Cindy held hands at school, maybe the look they got in their eyes when they were telling their friends about the other one; for some reason a level of resentment grew between Scotty and Tony and Darrel. Mostly Tony.
Notes were passed with the determination of the U.S. Postal Service. Come hell or high water, Scotty sent doodles and a high schooler’s version of poetry to Cindy almost continually. And she responded with the most flowery compliments and encouragements imaginable. Scotty only wished they had more classes together, every class together.
Christmas break was coming up and Scotty was a nervous wreck. Cindy had mentioned going to stay with her sister up at the college for the break, only coming home for Christmas Eve and leaving Christmas night. His fears were assuaged when she nonchalantly invited him along.
“Oh, no. It’s totally cool. I showed my sister that ring you made me out of a piece of yarn and she thought it was the coolest thing. I didn’t like the patronizing tone, you know how older people can be, right? All, ‘I’ve seen everything’, but anyway she said that’d be fine if you came. Think your mom would let you go?” Amazingly she said that all in one breath. Scotty could hear NOFX blasting in the background. He almost told her that she didn’t need to yell. The radio was much further from the phone mic than her mouth was. But then he thought about her mouth and her beautiful smile – and her full poutty lips, yeah, that too – and he couldn’t say anything but:
“Totally, I’m down. That party we went to at the beginning of the year was awesome,” he hesitated a little. He didn’t want to sound stupid or a dweeb or any of those things Darrel had called him over last six years. “You ah… you think she’ll have… you know?” His heart sank to his shoes, no, lower than his shoes, it rested itself down in the floorboards.
She was laughing. Actually laughing at him.
“Oh, course baby. She’s always got that stuff,” her laughter had stopped and Scotty’s heart was back where it should be. Beating too fast, he could hear her smile through the phone. She was smiling with every bit of kindness and caring and admiration a fifteen year old can manage. “Oh, and guess what?”
“Mmmmm…” he let the silence hang for a few seconds, “There’s peace in the middle east.” It was the best he could come up with. He liked to throw her curve balls sometimes. “That’s all I got. Come on give over, what’s up?”
“My sister’s friend came back into town. She goes to a college in another state, and you know what?” she paused for a breath, amazing, “I heard that what they got there is like a million times better than what goes around here.” Even better. If Scotty had had any doubts he didn’t now.
That odd cigarette at the beginning of the year, the beginning of him and Cindy was so much better than the whiskey they drank that night at the Old Jensen’s place. Scotty had tried to turn Darrel onto it, thought maybe it would mellow him out a little bit – god knew it wouldn’t be a bad thing, perhaps for the whole Sowell West High School – faculty and students included. And Darrel did try it.
Cindy wasn’t as opposed to the outdoors the way Scotty thought she would be. One weekend, Scotty got the gang – except Jack, he had to study and get ready for this really, really big test on Monday. Scotty didn’t get it but he just said, “Alright, dude. See you later.”
“Later,” was all Jack said and the phone was dead. But the rest were on board. The only problem was getting Cindy from her house to somewhere a little closer. She had a bike but the road she lived on, even more ‘back road’ than the one the guys lived on, wasn’t the safest for long rides. And Scotty couldn’t ask her to do that, after all, Scotty was in love.
After much scheming, Scotty was able to talk his mom into picking Cindy up – his mom didn’t like Cindy that much, not to the extent she forbid him to see her, but she kept her quiet reserve – and go along with the camping trip. When they got back to Scotty’s house a conversation ensued between him mother and Cindy that Scotty wasn’t privy too. Cindy had the same lighthearted step about her when she came out of the kitchen so it must not have been that bad. She also had an odd smile on her face.
“Your mother told us too, ‘be careful’,” even whispering she put a sarcastic twist to the final words of her statement.
They made their way up to his bedroom to get the camping gear together. Same sleeping bag he’d had back in the fourth grade. Same oversized backpack – not quite a duffle like Jack’s – filled with the same stuff. The only thing it lacked was the trepidation of their destination.
They weren’t going to the Old Jensen Place and that was good. Surely, Cindy knew the many old stories about the place (who didn’t?) and although their night spent there was uneventful in the ghost and goblin sense, none of them had ever been back there, or even talked about it much.
Tony and Cindy had to set out a little ahead of the rest of them. Cindy didn’t have her bike with her and they had to walk. It wasn’t that far to the bridge and the path to the camping sight, but the other guys would make much better time. Tony carried the packs; hers’ wasn’t that heavy but his oversized one weighed on his shoulders after just a few yards. Yet, they made it to the spot – before anyone of the other guys – the determination of the young and the in love. The excitement of being fifteen, and being with Cindy.
It wasn’t long and Scotty and Darrel rolled up on their bicycles. They had packs of their own. It had been awhile, maybe years, maybe sense the trip to Old Jensen’s Place, since they’d made this trip. This time they’d go left, under the bridge, and to the regular hang out spot.
They didn’t take long setting up the few tents they had – Scotty wasn’t very happy to be sharing a tent with Tony, but it was better than Darrel. He thought he was cool having his own tent, he didn’t understand that was because no one particularly wanted to bunk with him.
By the time the sun went down the camp fire was going and they were toasting marshmallows. None of them knew how to act with a ‘girl’ in their presents. Darrel and Tony did the best they could with their posturing and attempts at humor. But when Cindy pulled one of those odd looking cigarettes out of her purse things got really interesting. Darrel had already passed around the flask, the same one from ‘the trip’. Cindy grabbed a stick out of the fire with a flaming end and lit the ‘reefer’. God, she’s cool, Scotty thought and looked at her with deep eyes, eyes that said forever baby, forever.
Everyone had a good time that night. Good loose talk about the high school going ons and laughter filled the dark with the campfire light. Darrel decided he needed to go for a walk, it wasn’t long and the sounds of retching floated over the totally cool airwaves to the group left around the fire. Not long after Scotty and Cindy retired to their tent to practice the fine art of ‘making out’ before Tony stumbled his way over.
They, Scotty and Cindy, were fast asleep in each other’s arms by the time Tony passed out by the fire and they didn’t see Darrel until the morning. He sat by the remnants of the fire with a poker stick and a pale face.
“Dude, I don’t know what was in that cigarette, but you guys suck big time,” that was all he had to say. The next week or so at school was a bummer. Darrel was having problems with his masculinity, Scotty guessed. Darrel could handle his liquor and beer, hell; he could have handled anything in their freshman year at Sowell West High. He was the grand ‘Poo-Bah’. But he didn’t like the reefer. Not one bit.
But this party, this Christmas party at a college kids place. This was the bee’s knees. Scotty laid every persuasive tactic he had in his arsenal at his mother’s feet. She relented eventually. If it was only going to be for a long weekend. For some reason she thought he would run away are something. He didn’t get it and after the all the reassurances to be careful and good and all that stuff he called Cindy back.
“Think any of your friends wanna come? There’s an empty seat in the car. That jerk she was with is long gone and good riddance.”
He had to think for a moment. Jack was out; he didn’t even need to call. Scotty would love it, but then again he might get them kicked out. The nervousness Scotty felt the day before the first day of high school was back, only this time it was snarling and foaming at the mouth. The only thing that kept him from being out was Cindy. Cindy made everything all right. So he called Darrel. Darrel would go, his parents would let him and he was pretty cool in the eyes of their peers.
“Hey buddy,” Scotty said after Darrel picked up. “You wanna go to a party?” There was hesitation on the line, dead space. “It’s a college party, dude. Girls, booze, come on…” he let the line hang this time.
“Okay, when are we doing this?”
“Ah, Cindy’ll be at my place on Thursday about fiveish. We’ll be at your place around five-thirty I guess.”
“Done deal,” Scotty hung up the phone and floated on cloud nine up to his room and drifted to sleep with dreams of Cindy and a real college party.
Sure enough, Cindy – or her sister, rather – was at Scotty’s house at fiveish and they were picking up Darrel at about five thirty. Darrel was jazzed up. Scotty couldn’t stop thinking about where the night would take him and Cindy. There was a whole world further than ‘making out’ that excited and terrified Scotty to equal amounts.
Everything was dark inside the car. The dash lights were dim and no stars shone. The moon, full or not, didn’t shine on that car, on them that night.
Again, something was being passed around the inside of the car. It was hard to see and Scotty being in the back with his girlfriend couldn’t see anything. But he kept hearing these weird ‘smelling’ sounds. Before he knew it, a wide-eyed Darrel moved way too fast and shoved a flat surface in front of Scotty’s face. Scotty was lost; he didn’t have a clue what to do. There was a straw on what looked like a mirror and Scotty was totally, completely lost as to what he should do next.
“Let me see that,” Cindy released his hand and reached up to the tray of… whatever. She put the straw to her nose and inhaled deeply, took a moment’s pause and offered the tray to Scotty. “Think you could do that?” and the smile that went with that questions blew away any questions Scotty had.
He lifted the tray to his face and did as she did and zang!!!! Pow!!!! Boom!!!
Scotty liked it. And he really liked the party they went to. It lasted for days. His memory wasn’t that clear of those days, but life was good. He knew that, he knew that life was good.
But he noticed Darrel. Everyone noticed Darrel. He did as much of that marching powder as he could, and there was a lot of that at this college party. A certain sadness followed Scotty home and stayed with him… forever perhaps. He never should have called Darrel. He never should have invited him to that party. Lindsey was at that party.
She wasn’t in high school. She was just a little bit older, not much, but a little bit. Darrel’s big frame and outgoing, self confidence (exaggerated by the blow, no doubt) appealed to Lindsey. If they had gone to the same school as Scotty and Cindy did, they’d be just like peas in a pod, baseball and cracker jacks but they didn’t. And maybe that’s what made everything take so long. A slow motion downward spiral.
The rest of Scotty’s high school life was touched by a tinge of sadness. He watched Darrel stay on top, on the surface, on the top. Underneath, Scotty saw the destruction. He liked the blow, too – who wouldn’t – but he didn’t like it that much. Not like Darrel, and he didn’t like Lindsey. Something wasn’t right about her.
Scotty and Darrel and everyone had remarkable features. Darrel was big and strong, Tony was cool and slick and funny, Jack was smart and dedicated, Scotty was… well Scotty was hooked up with Cindy so he must have something. But when Darrel and Lindsey became friends she incessantly complimented the eyes. Everyone of them – off to the side, where no one would hear – were told how beautiful their eyes were. She had some hang up about wishing she had beautiful eyes.
And in a sense, Darrel and Lindsey were like peas in a pod, baseball and cracker jacks. They loved to party and be loud and in your face and on the powder. But Lindsey and the thing with eyes.
The rest of the guys couldn’t say they didn’t feel something wrong with it. Something was bad. A bad moon perhaps, rising on the horizon, far away but oh so close.
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