Freque Factory, Senior Year, Part 2

Freque Factory

Senior Year, Part 2

        With January of our senior year, Monique and I were ready to make some decisions.  We were both going to go to our local community college.  Betty and Susan didn't know what they were going to do.

    Things drifted along until February of that year.  Then, one morning we were awakened by a 6.1 earthquake.  That was a scary one!  We were all ok, but my apartment had cracks in the walls it didn't before.  We had to go to school, though no ones minds were on learning.  Every time we had an after shock we lost it again.  I remember hearing someone screaming during one of the aftershocks.

   We had a scout meeting that night.  I remember  Monique and I leaving early to talk.  She told me that she had finally smoked marijuana for the first time.  She liked it a lot and was looking forward to doing it again.  She said that she wasn't going to try anything else.  That didn't last long.  From then on, although we continued having adventures, Monique often wasn't sober.  But then, sometimes, neither was I.

   Monique was cast in the school play.  She got to play Bloody Mary in "South Pacific."  I got to see her perform in the final dress rehearsal.  I wasn't there for any of the performances because I was on my dad's sail boat, taking part in the Newport Beach to Ensenada, Mexico sailboat race.  I had been sailing and racing since I was 13.  This was the first big race my dad had let me join his crew for a big race like this.  The weather turned out to be crappy-drizzle rain and overcast the whole time.  And cold.  None of us were dry.  We gave up just south of the border-we'd been sailing for almost 24 hours and the conditions were getting to us.  So we turned around and went into San Diego.  That may have been one of the best showers of my life!

   We still had to bring the boat back, even though we had given up on the race.  Most of the rest of the crew got rides home, so it was just 3 of us bringing the boat back.  I ended up missing about a week of school.  I came back sunburned.  The attendance counselor didn't really believe the note from my parents, excusing my absence, but there wasn't anything he could do.  It felt odd to be back in school after being on the ocean for a week.  I've since talked to people who grew up sailing and they had the same experience.

   Monique was fighting with Brian again.  This one was serious.

Before we were ready for it, June and graduation was upon us.  It was surreal.  I was beginning to realize that after we graduated I was not going to see many of these people again.  Strange.  Some of the people I was graduating with I had been going to school with since kindergarten.  My friend Bill had graduated early, but he came back for the ceremony.  I was relieved.  Bill's last name came before mine alphabetically and I had followed him for years.  Graduating without him in front of me just seemed wrong.

   Once the ceremony was over and we had turned in our robes and such, we were off to our Grad party.  It was at this recreational center someplace.  There was bowling, movies, all kinds of stuff to do.  Since Monique had broken up with Brian at this point she was flirting with one of our classmates.  That left me to be with his best friend.

   Our Grad party was as surreal as the ceremony.  As the evening wore on I realized that most of my classmates were not sober.  A whole lot of marijuana was consumed that night.  It was a night of most of us realizing things we hadn't known about the others.  Wait-you're cool?   I will note that the friend, while a nice guy, kissed horribly.  I dumped him soon after.

      Around noon the next day I was finally awake.  My parents had let me sleep in, but reality soon hit.  I was informed that the next day I had to start looking for a job.  I had to go out and honestly search every day until I had a job.  No longer could I work for my parents, like I always had.  This was shocking.  And remember, I didn't have a car.  The summer heat had started early.  It was not a fun two weeks.  But I did eventually, in desperation, convince a local convalescent hospital to hire me as a dish washer and waitress.

   Monique didn't have to work.  Often she would pick me up from work and we'd go out.  My parents were having even more problems with their marriage, so they didn't seem to notice my late hours.    We went dancing and to concerts.  Monique was dating quite a few different guys.  Brian had been arrested.  He was over 18, so he went to county jail.  I found out later that one day Brian looked up and they were bringing another prisoner to his cell-Bad Penny!  Brian started screaming that if they put Penny in his cell he'd kill him.  I don't think Brian was kidding.

   My 18th birthday was as surreal as the rest of the summer.  The Constitutional Amendment, giving 18 year olds the right to vote was now in effect, so I went down to City Hall to register to vote.  I've done pretty well with that-I've only missed voting in one election.  After work Monique picked me up and threw a party for me at her place.  It was the first time I had ever dropped acid.  Monique made me a purple and green birthday cake.  She was still the star.

     A few short weeks later we were to start college.  My childhood was over.  I just didn't know it.