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75. Rapid City Days
Jun. 17th, 2013 05:08 pmHere is a more interesting fork in the road. It is my first days at Douglas High School. I am at the bowling alley, maybe trying to relive a little my Yokota days with my old friends, as though they could suddenly walk through the doors at any time and we might go and get some Yokota burgers and talk and laugh. But those happy meetings are of a year ago and thousands of miles away, and I will never have such friends again.
Instead, I see that Chris and Humpke are also bowling a few lanes over, two of the school’s princes, handsome jocks, Greg Brady and Wally Beaver. They nod and wave and acknowledge my presence. It is pretty clear, I think, that they are also asking me to join them, though not in so many words, not in any words in fact. I am too shy and coy to jump at the somewhat vague invitation. In later years, I would wonder: if I were more self-confident and had joined them, might it have made a significant difference and got us off on a better footing, and might I have had a better social life in my last two years of high school. I am thinking: probably not. But I can still wonder about it after thirty years.
Instead, I see that Chris and Humpke are also bowling a few lanes over, two of the school’s princes, handsome jocks, Greg Brady and Wally Beaver. They nod and wave and acknowledge my presence. It is pretty clear, I think, that they are also asking me to join them, though not in so many words, not in any words in fact. I am too shy and coy to jump at the somewhat vague invitation. In later years, I would wonder: if I were more self-confident and had joined them, might it have made a significant difference and got us off on a better footing, and might I have had a better social life in my last two years of high school. I am thinking: probably not. But I can still wonder about it after thirty years.
