August 24, 2013

Eventually Autumn showed up in her Escort. By now Howie had gone up to the room to get a gym bag with a change of clothes and supplies, so after telling Cam again that he’d see him early on Monday, he was on his way.

Cam stood watching as they drove away. It was the second time today someone had left him standing alone on the curb, though the circumstances for this instance were quite different from the first one.

Out in the Escort, Autumn said, “Cam sure seems like a nice guy.”

“Yeah, he does,” Howie agreed. “He’s been through some tough ones, no doubt about that. You know, when we were playing those guys at the Joe, they all seemed, well, I can’t say they seemed like faceless enemies, but somehow you don’t think of other people having problems like that. He sure seems to have done a good job of overcoming them, though.”

“He sure has some different perspectives about football and a lot of other things, but I can understand now why he would.”

“I like him,” Howie said. “I mean, I never thought I’d say that about the Bradford quarterback, but he’s, well, a real person, not an enemy. I think he’s going to make a pretty good friend, and I think he’s going to make a good roommate. I mean, I’d really rather have you, but since I can’t, he ought to be all right.”

Up in the dorm room, Cam was having similar thoughts. Howie and Autumn seemed to be good kids to him. It was totally random chance that had brought them together, and Howie was quite different than he had imagined the Marlin quarterback would be – plus, he didn’t seem to hold any rancor over what had been a very tough and disappointing loss nine months before. In fact, they seemed to have a lot in common, so it seemed likely that given the good start they’d already had, they might become friends.

It seemed lonely up in the room. It would have been nice to have Howie around tonight, if for no more reason than he would have been a compatriot in the new and somewhat confusing world of Meriwether College. But Howie and Autumn had clearly been looking forward to their time together, and she had first call on him. He hoped they were having a good time and wished them the best, but this was one evening Cam didn’t want to be alone with his thoughts.

He thought about calling Ty over in East Lansing but quickly decided Ty would be busy with his own things, meeting new people, having new experiences, like he really ought to be doing himself. At least meeting Howie and Autumn was something new and unexpected

He really ought to call Latasha. She’d been a close friend, and he owed her a lot. She’d been one of the people who had carried him through the worst of the last couple of years, and it would be strange to not have her as a major force in his life the way she had been.

October 10, 2011

In spite of the recent surgery, the doctors wanted to hit the chemo hard, so his next appointment was Monday afternoon. That at least allowed Cam to go to school in the morning, and he actually felt pretty good, relatively speaking; he knew that in a day he would be feeling much worse. He’d been losing his hair as a result of the chemo, and a couple of weeks before he’d decided that there was no point in having the vanity to hold onto it, so one morning he’d just shaved it off.

He really wanted to go to school that morning, if for no more reason than to thank a few people for their show of support at the Garrison game the previous Friday evening. It had been really unexpected, both the opportunity to be in the game, and the cheers he’d gotten from the crowd and his fellow players. Although there had been other expressions of support in the time he’d been dealing with the cancer, this one really hit home.

He walked into his first class of the day, chemistry. He was doing all right in the class though he didn’t like it very much. It made for a tough way to start the day, as if things weren’t tough enough already. Just not his favorite subject, but it was over and out of the way early.

Darnell Higgins was sitting in the seat next to him, and something about him seemed strange. Cam was as friendly with Darnell as anyone else, maybe a little more than with some people. He and his sister Latasha were the only black kids in the school; the family had moved there a couple years before. Cam had been one of those who had gone out of his way to make them feel welcome in the community, which like most small rural towns in the area was very white, with the only real nonwhites to then being a scattering of Hispanics. Darnell, a senior, was a good football player and had done more than his fair share of carrying the ball while he’d been on varsity.

It took a moment for the realization that Darnell had shaved his head. It didn’t seem that far out of line, since his hair had been pretty short already, and there was already a handful of other boys in the school who sported the “skinhead” look. Cam didn’t think much about it, until he noticed that the other football player in the class, John Cubby, now had turned skinhead, too.

Mr. Tolliver, the teacher, got right down to business without comment about the game on Friday or anything else. The class dragged right along as it always did, and it seemed like forever before it was over. Cam was just as happy that he would be missing it the next couple of days, but he was grateful that it had been worked out that the future classes would be recorded. That way he could view them at home when the chemo had him too far down to sit in class. He was barely keeping up, but managing to do it so far, with some help from Ty and some occasional tutoring from Mr. Tolliver.

Once chemistry was over with, Cam went up the hall to his English III class. Students were coming in and sitting down, and it only slowly struck him that Bill Albertson and Jake Derickson had shaved their heads, too, but the shocker came when Latasha sat down next to him – and she was as bald as the football players, as bald as he was! Where her hair had been neck-length and a mass of tight curls, there was nothing!

“What happened to your hair?” he asked.

“After Friday night, all the guys on the team decided to shave their heads to show support for you,” she smiled. “I thought it was a good idea, so after I shaved Darnell’s head I asked him to shave mine.”

“You guys …” he replied, tears coming to his eyes. “You guys … Latasha … you didn’t have to do that.”

“There’s nothing much anyone here can do to really help you,” she replied seriously. “Everybody knows that. But the team and I decided we somehow had to show that we were on your side.”

“I appreciate the thought, but you didn’t have to do that.”

“What if I wanted to? We didn’t want you to think you were without friends, just because of what you’re going through. Besides, my hair was a pain in the ass anyway.”

“Thank you,” he said, still taking in the strange sight of the bald black girl. She looked … well, different was hardly the word to use. “Friday night … and now this. It helps, Latasha. It really does.”

“Hey, no big thing. You’re pretty cool, Cam, and you’re going through a rough time. I know you’re having some other classes recorded for when you can’t be here, but it’s not being done for this one, is it?”

“No. I figure that with Dad’s help, I ought to be able to get by without it.”

“Maybe so, but you might be missing out on some of the discussions. I take pretty good notes, Cam. Would you like me to come out to your place after school later in the week and go over them with you?”

“Once again, Latasha, you don’t have to do that.”

“Cam, once again,” she smiled, “what if I want to?”

August 24, 2013

Cam smiled at the memory. Latasha had been a huge help over the next several months while he went through the worst of the chemo. At first it was just helping out with class work; she could be a lot of help because she shared several of his classes. It seemed likely that he wouldn’t have passed a couple of them without her coaching, tutoring, and just plain keeping him motivated.

While Cam had friends who sometimes dropped by the house to help keep him occupied, Latasha was special. In time they became more or less boyfriend and girlfriend, but it didn’t happen overnight, and it wasn’t terribly intense between them – at least not most of the time. There was one special exception to that rule, though, one that was a fond memory indeed – and one that he knew he wouldn’t ever tell Howie about.

In spite of that, Cam wasn’t sure if they really could be called boyfriend and girlfriend anymore. Oh, they were still friends and probably would remain that way, but they’d agreed long ago that they probably weren’t meant for each other in the long run. Like a lot of kids in Bradford, they were well aware that they would ultimately have to leave town to seek their lives, and it was pretty clear that their interests were going in different directions.

They were going to different colleges – like him, she’d moved into her dorm room today, but at the University of Toledo, at least twice as far away as Ty. He’d seen her yesterday to say goodbye, and they’d shared a brief kiss, one between friends, not between lovers. Thanksgiving would most likely be the next chance they would have to see each other, and right now it seemed awful far away.

Still, there was no doubt that he missed her. He missed having her around, missed her smiling face, and missed her sometimes bizarre ways. As his hair had started growing back in, she’d let hers grow back – but into a Mohawk, a strip of tangled curly hair maybe an inch wide across the top of her head. Somehow it seemed to fit her.

Cam looked at his cell phone for a moment. He’d decided not to call Ty, but Latasha was different. Perhaps he ought to at least check in. After a moment’s doubt, he thumbed the icon for her cell number.

The phone rang a couple of times, and then he heard her voice: “What’s up?”

“Hey, you,” he grinned. “That’s what I wanted to ask you. How are you liking the place?”

“So far, so good,” she replied. “My roomie is a white girl who’s a little on the square side. She hasn’t figured out what to make of me yet. I’d sort of hoped for a local who could help me find my way around, but she’s from some little hick town way south of here.”

“Sort of like Bradford?”

“Yeah sort of, we’ve got that much in common. This place still seems pretty big to the both of us, but it’s not like we’re right downtown or anything. So how’s it going up your way?”

“Like you, I just got here, and I’m still getting used to the place. I’ve been around campus a little, not enough to really learn my way around. I figure I’m going to have four years to figure that out.”

“Don’t waste too much time at it, or you might miss something,” she cautioned. “So, how’s your roomie?”

“Pretty cool. You’re not going to believe this – hell, I hardly believe it myself. You remember the Spearfish Lake quarterback from the Joe?”

“You’re kidding! Which one of you won the fight?”

“No fight. Like I said, he’s a really cool guy. He’s not here right now. His girlfriend is going to a community college about twenty miles away, and she has an apartment over there, so they’re spending the night. I met her, she’s pretty cool, too.”

“Is she a real good looker?”

“Not bad, maybe a little more on the average side. I get the impression she was a cheerleader, but she doesn’t seem like an airhead. She can’t be since she was making noises about med school.”

“You never know,” she chuckled. “So I suppose you talked football a lot?”

“More than I really wanted to, but Howie – that’s his name – he and I have that much in common, anyway.”

“It still seems like it must be pretty weird … hey, just a minute, Belinda.”

“Belinda?”

“She’s my roomie. We were just getting set to go out to some mixer they’re holding for freshmen. We might as well get the chance to party a little, maybe meet a few people.”

“Have fun. I hear they’re having something like that here, too, but I don’t know anything about it.”

“So you’re sitting up in your room staring at the walls, right? I know you, Cam.”

“Pretty much. If Howie was here we might see about making the rounds, but I don’t know if I’m up to it by myself.”

“Cam, get your white ass off of your bed and get out there and meet some people. There’s some things you need to do for yourself. I shouldn’t have to push you to do them.”

“I know, I know,” he sighed. “I want to call the folks, but after that maybe I’ll wander around and find someone to talk to.”

“No maybe about it, get your white ass outside and do it.”

He and Latasha were good enough friends that they could talk a little rough with each other, even if it sounded racist to others. It was part of the special bond they had, and Cam had learned a long time before that he needed to be able to hand back some of the crap she handed him. He would never have talked to another black the way he talked with her – although there were unspoken limits they never touched. It just showed the depth of their friendship. “All right, I’ll do it. Get your black ass to that mixer, but don’t come home with anything you don’t want.”

“You either. Keep in touch, Cam. I’ll talk at you again in a day or two.”

“Same here, girl. Have fun.”

Cam punched the call off, and just sat and stared at the phone for a minute. He was going to miss Latasha’s exuberance, that was for sure. She was right; left to himself he tended to be a bit quiet and reticent, but she’d kept his life interesting for most of two years. Not for the first time, he reflected that he was going to miss having her around, even if it was only for that. And, not for the first time, he was feeling that perhaps he’d missed a big opportunity with her.

This wasn’t getting anything done. He thumbed another icon, and within seconds was talking to his father. “So, are you calling home asking for money already?” his father teased.

“Not yet,” Cam replied, “But I’m sure the time will come.”

“So, have you gotten settled in all right?”

“Pretty much. I’m still finding my way around, but I thought I better check in.”

“Ty called a few minutes ago,” his father reported as Cam heard the rattle of another phone being picked up. “He was getting set to go to some party. I didn’t exactly understand what.”

“Hi, Cam,” he heard Aunt Shae say before he could answer his father. “Did you finally meet your roomie?”

“Oh, yeah, and I got a surprise, too.” He went on to briefly tell the story of meeting Howie and Autumn. “So, very much to my surprise, we seem to be off to a good start,” he concluded.

The three exchanged a few more words, but to everyone’s surprise there didn’t seem to be much to say other than that everything was going fine right now. It seemed like everything that had to be said had already been said early this morning, yesterday, or even before that. Cam explained that he was going to head out and see what was happening around campus before either his father, Aunt Shae, or both of them together urged him to get out and do it like Latasha had done.

Finally there was nothing more to say. Cam promised to call again in a few days once he got his feet under him, then ended the call, feeling more awkward than he had expected to be. He thought about calling Ty, but again decided against it; something told him this was time to be cutting ties, not trying to cling to them desperately. Wishing again that Howie were here to go with him, he slid the phone into his pocket and got up.

It was still light outside, and would be for a while yet. He was surprised to note there weren’t very many people around campus; in fact, it seemed pretty empty, but here and there a few people were drifting in the direction of the Student Union.

The mixer room was perhaps a quarter full when he got there; there was evidence of a band setting up in a far corner. Somehow the people in various standing and seated groups seemed overly awkward, but then there was every reason for that since most people were likely meeting for the first time.

In hopes of finding someone to talk to he hung around the outskirts of several groups for a few moments each, looking for some way of getting into the conversation, or at least making himself known, but no topic seemed to beckon. About the fifth or sixth such group, he discovered the people were going to great lengths to top each other in saying how much of an asshole they thought Obama was. A little of that went a long way and he quickly pulled back from that one. As he separated himself he realized that a short, heavy-set, sort of Oriental-looking girl came away with him. “Had about all you could take?” she asked.

“It doesn’t take much of that,” Cam sighed, a little relieved at having someone to talk to. “I’m tired of wingnuts from both sides so I try to stay away from that sort of thing.”

“It does get old after a while,” she agreed. “I don’t think Obama is the greatest president we ever had, but he’s nowhere near as bad as James Buchanan was.”

“Don’t tell me, you plan on being a history major.”

“Probably not. It would be nice, but then it would be even nicer to make a living. So what do you think of Obama?”

“If I said that I don’t think he’s lived up to his potential, would it sound too political?”

“I doubt there would be many who would disagree with you. So what are you planning on majoring in?”

“I have no idea. Ask me this time next year. I hope I’ll have figured out something by then.”

“What do you plan on doing if you don’t know by then, either?”

“Good question. Probably either stay in school for another year, or else take a year off, buy a motorcycle, and ride it out to California and spend a year figuring out what to do after I grow up.”

“I have heard worse ideas,” she grinned. “A kid from our school decided to take a gap year and spend it working at Burger King. She figures that by the time she’s done with that she’ll hate it enough that she’ll actually want to go to college.”

“That is not the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard,” Cam conceded. “It’ll probably give her a pretty good idea of which things need to come first.”

“Yeah, but she’s going to have sore feet and smell a lot of hamburger grease in that year. Me, I have back troubles, I don’t want to spend my life working on my feet.”

“Good reason for going to college, then,” he replied, sort of liking the outward manner of this girl, whoever she was. “So what happens if you don’t know in a year?”

“Beats me. That idea of yours about buying a motorcycle is one of the better ones I’ve ever heard, except that my folks would shit a brick if I did it.”

“Mine probably would too, but it’s fun to think about.” He decided to change the course of the discussion a little, just to see if he could find out a little more about her. “Are you from around here?”

“No, Wychbold, down near the state line,” she told him. “How about you?”

“We’re almost neighbors. I’m from Bradford.” Wychbold was located about forty miles east of his hometown, and was about the same size. He’d been through the town perhaps half a dozen times over the years.

“Hi, neighbor,” she grinned. “From what I can tell we’ve got a lot of Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo kids at this place, and probably none of them ever heard of either Bradford or Wychbold.”

“I haven’t talked to enough people to tell, but I don’t doubt you’re right. Do you have any other kids from your school coming here?”

“None that I know of, which is probably good. How about you?”

“Same thing. As far as I know there were a couple of kids thinking about it, but unless things have changed they didn’t come here. I sort of like that, since it gives me a chance for a fresh start.”

“You’re telling me you had a bad time in high school and want to start over?”

Cam stopped for a moment to consider his response to that statement. While his time in high school had been mostly positive, the cancer had put an unwanted spin on it. “The only honest answer I can give you is yes and no. As far as school was concerned it was all right, but I had some health issues that took some of the fun out of it. How about you?”

“I’m so glad to be out of Wychbold High School it’s not funny,” she told him. “I was just enough different from everyone else that it was hard because I didn’t fit in well. I don’t want to say I was an outcast, but I sure wasn’t one of the in-crowd. Hey, when you were little, did you ever watch a show named Avalon on CTN?”

“I’m familiar with it.” He wasn’t about to admit why he was familiar with it. He wasn’t ashamed in the slightest, but somehow it didn’t seem like something he’d want to reveal at a first meeting like this with a stranger.

“Do you remember the kid playing on the show, Shaella Sunrise? I mean, five years old and half again the size of the adults?”

“Oh, yes,” he grinned, again resolving to keep his secret, at least for now. “I know who you’re talking about.”

“Her message was, ‘It’s OK to be different.’ There were some kids at Wychbold who never got that message. I sometimes wished Shaella Sunrise would come along and smack some sense into a few of them.”

“She would never do anything like that,” he laughed. “Shaella Sunrise is all about tolerance and peaceful resolution of issues. ‘Fighting isn’t nice,’ she says.”

“You seem to know something about the show. I haven’t seen it in years.”

“I have much younger half-sisters, so that has something to do with it.”

“It would be nice to have brothers and sisters. I feel like I missed something by being an only child.”

“It has its good points and its bad ones,” he told her, relieved that they’d gotten away from the subject of Avalon. It was bound to come out sometime, but for some reason he wasn’t eager to get into his reasons tonight. Now, it looked like he wouldn’t have to, at least not with her. “Hey, I don’t think we got around to introducing ourselves. I’m Cam Patterson.”

“Hi, I’m Robin Skinner.”

“Robin, can I buy you a cup of coffee or something?”

“It’s free here tonight, and I don’t think we’re going to see that very often. But I’ll take you up on it anyway.”

This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.