Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: Bestie (05/22/14)
-
TITLE: Living in the Past | Previous Challenge Entry
By Steve McClure
05/29/14 -
LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
SEND A PRIVATE COMMENT
ADD TO MY FAVORITES
“Sure you can. We go back a long way.”
Indeed. We did go back a long way. We grew up together. Lived in the same small-town neighborhood, went to the same schools, same church…. We were in youth group together, played sports together, built hotrods together piece by piece. We shared a lot in the ‘50s and ‘60s. We even joined the military together (pre-Viet Nam); I went to one part of the world and Tim went to another. But when we got out three years later, things were different…Tim was different.
I went off to school on the GI Bill. Tim just went off. I ran into him when I came home for the summer. His hair looked like it hadn’t been cut since I last saw him – long and stringy, with scraggly beard to match. His clothes were unkempt, shirt-tail half out, jeans unwashed, tennis shoes worn….
“Hey, Tim.”
“Hey, Phil.”
“What you been up to?”
“Not much. Just hangin’ out.”
“You working?”
“Naw. Hard to find a decent job.” I wanted to say something about his appearance, but held my tongue.
“Where you living now?”
“With my parents.”
“How’s that working out?”
“You know…. They’d rather I wasn’t there. I get a lot of grief.”
“I was hoping you’d come up to State.”
“Naw. Nothing for me there.”
Odd. We used to talk about going off to college.
I got a job bagging groceries. Old acquaintances often stopped to chat; they always wanted me to know about Tim. Seems he just dropped out. He couldn’t hold a job, stopped going to church…. He often hung around the vacant lot where the old drive-in hamburger joint was. It burnt down while we were in the service. We used to spend a lot of time there. It was right on Main Street where the high school kids cruised. I drove by after work one day, and there he was, sitting on what was left of the drive-in’s curb. I stopped.
“What’s up, Tim?”
“Just hangin’ out.”
“Not much here, anymore.”
“Yeah. It’s sad.” He gazed around with a faraway, forlorn look. “You remember when we used to come here? Used to park our rods right about there.” He pointed to a place in the cracked, weed-ingrown blacktop. “You sold yours, didn’t you?”
“Yeah. When we went into the military.”
“Kept mine.”
“Really? You still drive it?”
“Sometimes. Not that much fun, anymore.”
“Let’s go see it.” Tim perked up.
We climbed into my more conventional sedan and drove to Tim’s house. He opened the garage and there it was, sparkling just like it did years ago.
“Let’s take it out, Tim.” Nostalgia was building.
We climbed in and Tim fired up the rod. The pipes rumbled, vibrating the chassis and disclosing horsepower to spare. We drove down Main Street, recalling people and events of time past. We stopped at a new shop and got a soda, complaining about the paper cups that had long replaced the old Coke glasses. People gawked at the rod parked at the curb. Cars like that had become relics, now.
“That was fun,” I remarked as we headed back to Tim’s house.
“Yeah, it was.” Tim was smiling ear to ear.
Tim stopped by the store where I was working a few days later. He’d shaved and cleaned up. But his hair. It was combed up and falling over his forehead…50’s style. He wore jeans, a T-shirt, white socks and sneakers.
“Thought we’d go for another spin,” he said with a big smile.
“OK. After work.”
Often thereafter, when I left the store at the end of the day, there would be Tim, sitting in the rod in the parking lot…waiting. We’d drive up and down Main Street, get a soda, and drive some more. Sometimes I’d put gas in the tank since Tim was always short on cash. The end of August came quickly.
“I’m heading back to school next week,” I mentioned as we drove along.
“Already?”
“Yeah. Time to get back to the real world.” Tim’s smile was fading. “You’ve got the GI Bill; you should come up there.”
Tim fell silent. “Maybe you could stay here,” he said sullenly.
“Can’t do that, Tim. It’s been fun. But it’s time to move on.”
We drove back to my car in silence.
When I returned from school the following summer, Tim had become scraggly and forlorn again. We didn’t spend time together.
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
Accept Jesus as Your Lord and Savior Right Now - CLICK HERE
JOIN US at FaithWriters for Free. Grow as a Writer and Spread the Gospel.
I have a cousin who lives in the past, always talking about what we did as kids and such...nice memories, but time to move on.
Good authentic tale.
God bless~