Jack’s Preface

I’ve heard more than once that I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth. I get it. I don’t deny that I’ve had a lot of advantages because of the good genes I inherited and the money Ronnie worked so hard for. I wished I’d inherited some artistic genes or maybe a bit more height. Be nice if I’d inherited the ability to draw or sing but that didn’t happen either. We’re each dealt a different hand and it’s up to us to decide just how to play that hand. In my freshman year of high school, almost everything in my life changed. It was the year I saw the hand I’d been dealt and it was the year I decided how to play that hand. Every morning we each have to decide how to win with the hand you have. Every morning. I certainly learned a lot that year but I haven’t stopped learning. Albert Einstein once said “When you stop learning you start dying.” I’m not ready to start dying.

A few notes on the story, itself. The events in this take place in 1980-81, and it all takes place in and around Charleston, South Carolina. Charleston is a town where people are friendly and helpful. In the story you can see how that changed people lives including mine. I’ve been around the world a couple of times and there’s still no place I’d rather live. You can use Google Street view to see some of the locations in the story, like White Point Garden, Porter-Gaud, The Wappoo Cut or Alhambra Hall. I recommend it as the locations add a lot to the story, at least for me.

Porter-Gaud school is the backdrop for much of the story. Yearly tuition for Porter-Gaud was over $29,000 last year and students average SAT scores are 300 points higher than the national average. Students are serious and generally apply themselves. It is an amazing private school. It likely seems different from your high school experience but it was normal for me. It was normal for all of us.

I’ve changed a lot of names and combined a few places to make it easier for the reader. Most of the important places are still around. Unfortunately, Mink’s is not one of them. It’s gone and so is Timex, and that’s too bad. Like many of the people in the story, he made a big impact on me.

I had a lot of help from a couple of great and understanding editors. Steven did far too much proofreading and provided lots of input. I learned a lot from him. And A who found lots of mistakes and tried to reign in my blatant disregard for dates and names. If you see a song that wasn’t released until 1983, it’s not because he didn’t spot it. He did and I chose to leave it in because it fit so well. If you think it’s pretty clean without a lot of grammar errors or typos, it’s because of their work.

I hope you enjoy the story.