Chapter 3: A Job for the Summer

I celebrated my sixteenth birthday in February, and as promised I was allowed to enrol in Driver's Ed. I already knew most of the rules of the road. I'd been studying the book and pretty well knew it front to back. I couldn't wait to get my license so I could take Kelsey out on my own. We were getting along really well. She let me kiss her pretty much any time I wanted to ... and I wanted to kiss her pretty much any time. If she wasn't the prettiest girl in school, I don't know who was.

The only problem I had with Kelsey was a bunch of older guys thought she was pretty good looking too, and they always seemed to be hanging around her. But Kelsey didn't pay any attention to them. Even some of the hotshots from the football or basketball team struck out trying to horn in on my girlfriend. I told her how proud that made me of her. That got me a big smile and an even bigger kiss.

We hadn't got into the heavy petting stage of our dating. Partly because we really didn't have much privacy, and partly because I definitely didn't want to push Kelsey into something she wasn't ready to do. But, we held hands, cuddled up together with my arm around her in the movie theatre, and kissed ... a lot. All things considered, I thought I was a pretty lucky guy. That is, until it all came crashing down.

"I've got some bad news, Ian," she told me one Saturday afternoon. "Dad has a new job and we're moving away when school's out in June."

"Oh no!" I moaned. "Where are you moving to? Maybe I can come and visit if it's not too far away."

She was shaking her head. "We're moving east to Toronto. Dad got a promotion to head office. I'm afraid I won't see you again after I'm gone."

I could see she was really unhappy with what had happened. I felt just as crummy as could be. I was going to lose my only girlfriend and we'd only been together for a few months. I could see some tears forming in Kelsey's eyes and I wrapped my arm around her to comfort her.

"I'll never forget you, Kelsey. Maybe someday, somehow, we'll get together again."

"I'll never forget my hero, Ian. Will you write to me? I don't want to lose you."

"Sure. I'll write. I'll send you pictures even. I don't want to lose you either."

Three months later, she was gone. For the first time in my life, I felt what it was like to lose someone I was close to. I wouldn't say I was in love with Kelsey, but it was something close to that. I was looking at a summer of loneliness. I needed to do something to get my mind off losing her. Fortunately, Dad came up with an answer.

"You said you wanted a summer job, Ian. Well, if you see Mr. Fosdick at the city works yard, he's willing to talk to you about some general labour. It pays well, so you'll be able to afford gas for your mother's car and the odd movie," Dad smiled.

"Oh, that's great, Dad. Thanks so much. I didn't have any luck at the grocery store or the car wash. Everyone seems to have hired someone and most of them are older than me."

"I don't think this will be an easy job, Ian. I suspect you'll be spending a lot of time on the dumb end of a shovel."

"That's okay, Dad. I'll do what I can to earn the job."

He nodded. "I know you will, Ian. I told Mr. Fosdick to expect your call."

"How come you know him, Dad?"

"Do you remember old Mrs. McGonagall, the lady who nearly ran down Kelsey?"

"Sure, what about her?"

"Well, Mr. Fosdick is her son-in-law and feels he owes you for preventing a horrible accident that would have destroyed the poor old lady. She's gone now, but Bud Fosdick has never forgotten how close she came to tragedy. So, there you go. Your good deed is being paid back, some years later."

"Wow, that's amazing. I would never have thought anyone would remember that," I said, shaking my head in wonder.

"You underestimate just how meaningful what you did was to other people. Kelsey never forgot, and your mother and I have never forgotten. It's a small thing someone can do for a person who has done a huge thing for them. Take it in the spirit it's offered, Ian. You've earned it."

"Thanks, Dad. Thanks a lot. I'll do a good job for Mr. Fosdick."

"I'm sure you will, Ian," Dad smiled.

Well, I'd made a promise to Dad that I'd do a good job, but three months later I wondered how smart that was. I did get one big benefit from all the hard work I did on the work crew. I had muscles where there were no muscles before. At sixteen years old, I stood five-eleven-and-a-half and weighed one-eighty. We were supposed to be using the metric system, but I never bothered. For me, it was still feet and inches, pounds and ounces, and gallons and quarts. I was going to wait until I had to change before I worried about it.

I had a great tan, having worked a good part of the summer shirtless. So, for all my hard work there was a reward besides the nice paycheck I earned. I was getting a lot of attention from the girls. When I walked down the hallway my first day of grade eleven that September, I got a lot of second looks, and not all of them were from girls. It was still warm as late summer often is in our area, so I had a short sleeved shirt on. I noticed that it was a bit snug compared to how it had been last June. I was going to have to get some new clothes. I noticed my pants seemed a little shorter than I remembered, so I guessed I'd had another growth spurt.

I connected with Chug and Pigpen before they headed off to football practice. Both of them said I didn't look anything like the Ian they knew at the end of last year. Well, I hadn't seen much of them over the summer as I worked and saved my money towards someday owning my own car. Mr. Fosdick said he was very pleased with the job I did and I was invited to work part time when I went back to school. I grabbed at that and thanked him. Now I would have gas and date money. That summer was hard work, but when I think back on it, it was good for me. I was in good shape, stronger than I'd ever been, and feeling good about having a job.

Chug thought I should come out for football as a walk-on. I said thanks but no thanks. I had other plans. I would be at the works yard on Saturday and holiday weekends checking off loads as they went out, thanks to Mr. Fosdick. A much easier job. Between that and my studies, I would have plenty to do and organized sports wasn't part of it. I couldn't make any money at sports.

I had saved enough to buy nice Christmas presents for my family, and I sent a little gift by mail to Kelsey to remind her I was still thinking of her. I didn't hear anything back from her, however. I did write to her over the summer, but only got a couple of letters in reply, telling me about their new home and the nice country club was her parents now belonged to. I got the feeling that our short friendship had fizzled out more quickly than we thought. I wouldn't forget her, but I wasn't so sure she would remember me.

I was battling acne now, something I detested. There wasn't a thing I could do about it, either. I just had to live with it until it went away. I was lucky that it wasn't a really bad case, but I couldn't wait until it disappeared. Mom was very sympathetic, but didn't have any answers either. On the other hand, it didn't stop a few of the girls in my classes from coming on to me.

"Hi, Ian, remember me?" I heard as I was opening my locker after school one day.

I turned and smiled. "Sure Rhonda, I remember you. How are you?

"I'm fine. How are you? I hear Kelsey moved away," she said, eyeing me up and down.

"Yeah. She's moved to Toronto. I don't suppose I'll see her again."

"Aw, that's too bad," she said with a slight smirk, indicating she didn't mean a word of it.

"Yeah," I chuckled. "I can see you're all torn up about it. So what are you up to?"

"I'm up to finding a new boyfriend. I hear you're quality material. Are you interested?"

"What happened to Timber Tom?"

"That rat! He found another girlfriend this summer and didn't bother to tell me. So I'm a free agent again." This time, the smile was a good deal more interesting.

Rhonda had a bit of a reputation for being both easy and very demanding. I wasn't in the market for easy or demanding at that time. I suspect Timber Tom Sharpe had probably tired of her and had moved on. Why she was interested in me I could not figure out.

"So tell me, Rhonda, why me?" I tried, stalling for time. How was I going to say no?

"Have you looked in the mirror lately Ian. You're a hunk ... and girls are always interested in hunks."

Now I'm the first to admit I'm a real rookie when it comes to being around girls and knowing what they're up to. Rhonda was telling me I looked good, and that was enough for her. There was no doubt she was good looking ... hell, she was hot. But she definitely wasn't my type ... whatever that was. I just couldn't come up with a line that wouldn't be blunt, so I told the truth.

"I'm sorry, Rhonda. I don't see myself with you. You belong with the older guys. Hell, you're almost a full-grown woman. You don't want to hang out with a kid like me."

I don't think anyone had ever turned her down before, and this came as quite a shock to her. I was ready for some verbal abuse, but it never came. She had a wide-eyed look about her that said she was caught totally unprepared for my rejection. She just turned and walked away, saying nothing. I was just as surprised at her reaction as she was at my rejection. I'd heard it said by a lot of guys that they'd never understand women, and I was beginning to realize just what they meant.

I wouldn't have minded finding a girlfriend, but all the ones who I might have been interested in I was comparing to Kelsey. Kelsey wasn't complicated at all. She was exactly the kind of girlfriend I wanted. Nice to be with, interested in me and what we could do together, and loyal. I never had the feeling she wasn't totally satisfied being with me. Finding another Kelsey was not going to be easy.

It was after Thanksgiving that my next little adventure came about. It was a Saturday afternoon and I was in the works yard, waiting for the next load of gravel to be sent to the latest sink hole. We'd had an epidemic of these holes showing up in some of the older city streets and it kept our guys hopping to keep up with them. Most of the trouble related to old water lines leaking and eventually eroding the soil around the lines. When enough rain and enough pressure from traffic was put on the area, the roadway collapsed. I got quite an education on ageing infrastructure that fall.

Anyway, truck number 113D was scheduled out next, but hadn't made an appearance yet. When it was fifteen minutes later than it should have been, I got on the walkie-talkie to the yard and tried to raise someone, but got no response. I was about to walk down the driveway to the yard when I heard an explosion, then saw a fireball rise above the roof of the maintenance shed. I froze. What the hell should I do?

I don't know how long it took me to act, but I ran back to the shack, grabbed the phone and dialed 0 for the operator. I reported the explosion and told them we needed a fire truck and probably an ambulance right away. I got a calm, professional response and was told the message would be relayed to the fire department. Then I called Mr. Fosdick's home number. There was no answer, but I left a message on his answering machine telling him about the explosion and that I'd called the operator to get help.