Chapter 2

It was two years earlier. He fell out of bed and staggered towards the bathroom, with an eye towards his sister Jessie’s (closed) door. Until he washed his face, relieved himself, and then washed his hands, he avoided her. Male plumbing was not a good topic for breakfast chat!

Their mom was already at work, so he tapped at the door frame: “Jessie, good morning.” After a moment she pulled open the door and hustled for the bathroom, grunting in his general direction.

Jessie was definitely not a morning person, so he took no offense.

Fifteen minutes later, they were dressed and snarfing bowls of cereal. Glancing at the calendar, he saw it was December 7th. He knew his paper on the Pearl Harbor attack was due; one of his history teacher’s little shenanigans. Soon they were out the door and off to the high school, two miles north.

Archie knew FDR had called 12/7/1941 a “date which will live in infamy.” Sadly, 12/7/2011 would come to seem even worse for him and their little family.

Jessie’s and Archie’s father was “AWOL” (whatever that meant!) and their mother Bettie struggled to provide for them. All three had brown hair and eyes, medium height and weight, and only Archie stood out with his mismatched legs. He was in his Junior year, while Jessie had just begun high school three months prior.

Reality for the siblings was matching helmets and shared rides on a little European scooter, with all the horsepower of an arthritic beagle. Needless to say, Texas teens appraised their ride as far beneath contempt. Under his breath, Archie said “100 miles per gallon, bitches!” Yet the giant lifted pickup trucks prowling around the high school posed a real hazard to the siblings, whose heads while riding were no higher than the bumpers of those monsters.

If their transportation stunted their social standing, poverty and shyness sealed their fates. Clothing was from thrift stores; Jessie sometimes even wore ill-fitting hand-me-downs from her brother. Girls’ cliques either overlooked or shamed her. Archie struggled with his gait and consequently with sports and physical education classes. Unsympathetic coaches growled at him and peers complained about being saddled with him on their teams. Even Jessie sometimes avoided him to miss out on the abuse. She was enraged whenever she witnessed the jocks ragging on her brother.

After several lunch periods where the jocks took his money or stole his lunch bag, Archie retreated into the library for his daily lunch periods. He may have been the only male student actually losing weight in the school. At 5 feet 10 inches and only 142 pounds, he was noncompetitive in all team sports.

Back at home, none of this reached Bettie’s ears. Visibly exhausted after her day temping at the warehouse, neither sibling had the heart to burden her with their problems.

Academically, their time in high school was moving on well. Archie had taken college prep courses, as he aspired to university scholarships. Without financial aid, he would have to end his academic career with just a high school diploma. Like many others, his family had no savings and no assets, except for Bettie’s elderly Toyonda Civolla [Authors note: vehicle names are invented] and the scooter.

Jessie had a new friend and study partner, Cathie White, who was partnering with her towards similar goals. Already, they were focusing on STEM/Scientific subjects using their mathematics skills. Their goal was to qualify for college scholarships. Physically, both girls were very similar, except Cathie concealed a large bust-line behind the books in her arms.

In his history classroom, the teacher nattered on about the Greater East-Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere, and the oil embargo on the Empire of Japan in the summer of 1941. And then it was passing time as students moved to lockers, classes, and the lunchroom.