Chapter 120: Kentucky Redux

Thursday, April 26, 1984

As we had last year, Angie and I got up early enough to say goodbye to Dad, then said goodbye to Mom when we left for school. As before, we’d be leaving for the airport from school and wouldn’t be back until Monday evening.

Just as it’d been last year, traveling on Thursday was an indulgence. We didn’t need it; Friday would have been fine. We could afford it, though, and it was worth it to all of us.

It was interesting to all of us that there was a ‘just like last time’ to this at all. No one from Memorial had gone to ToC in years (if ever) before last year. Now we had a group of veterans returning, and five of our group this year were juniors or sophomores who would hopefully return next year.

Meg had quietly made it clear that next year’s schedule would be at least as aggressive about going to ToC qualifiers. If UH kept hosting their tournament, Memorial could do two or three in-state and at least one out-of-state.

Combined with the grade point changes, both Meg and Steffie were optimistic that they could at least generally maintain the new level we’d set. It would be tough going, but they had the trophies and awards to prove that it was possible, not to mention a core of dedicated kids who could mentor the newcomers.

The seniors of 1984 were still going to be a terribly hard group to replace, even if I excluded Angie and myself. But that’s how high school is. There are always kids leaving, and kids who are unusually good.

Meg and Steffie would manage.

Instead of going to Drama, we just left school after fifth period. Those who weren’t in Drama (quite a few!) ditched their sixth-period class, and those who weren’t in Debate (also quite a few) skipped their seventh-period class.

We had only minor trouble with traffic this time, and made it to the airport by three-thirty. Security was a bit more annoying than usual, but we were still at our gate an hour before our flight. That was ‘good enough,’ if nothing else.

Our group consisted of seventeen kids: Angie, Jas, Paige, and I (of course), along with Cammie, Megan, Anne, Gene, Carole, Sheila, Lexi, Penny, Ben, Amit, Sue, Jaya, and Jess.

Meg and Steffie had us all together in the middle of the plane, as before. We’d do our best to not disturb our fellow passengers. This time we had to change planes in Dallas (both ways), which had everyone slightly annoyed but would be fine.

Things went smoothly, and we made it to Lexington by ten. Late, but this was why we came on Thursday instead of Friday. By the time we were competing on Saturday, we should be settled into Eastern time, rested, and ready.

Those whose parents would be awake (most, I thought) called home, while the rest would wait until tomorrow.

We took two stretch vans from the airport to the hotel. As before, we’d be within walking distance of the events. Steffie took one and Meg took the other, but there was no separation of ‘Debaters’ and ‘Drama kids.’ Where would Angie ride, if we did that? Plus, Amit and Sheila wanted to ride together.

I was suspicious that Anne and Penny might also want to ride together, but — if there was anything there — they weren’t public about it, and none of the girls (who’d undoubtedly know, if I was managing to notice it) had said anything yet. Penny and Ben had been dating, but weren’t now, and it would hardly be out of character for Penny if she was dating Anne now. As for Anne, her disinterest in boys had been a fairly open secret for a long time now, at least in Debate circles.

Just as with last year, the imbalance between the number of boys and girls was stark. I was rooming with Ben (since I knew him), and Gene and Amit took the other room. It was better for all of us to spend the extra money and not have to share a bed.

The girls paired up two to a room, too. Yes, that put Angie and Paige together. No, they wouldn’t take advantage of that — I knew they’d promised both Meg and Steffie they wouldn’t. Whether they would sleep in the same bed was an entirely different question. Either way, the covers on both would be messed up, and no one was going to ask.

However, Penny and Anne weren’t rooming together. Anne was rooming with Megan as usual.

The whole thing was a bit indulgent, but (as with flying out a day early) we could afford it, and it made sense to most of us to make this a trip to remember for the right reasons, not because we were late or stressed or having to share beds for the last time.

There was another wave of phone calls when we got to the hotel. One that pleased me was seeing Cammie calling Penelope. We wouldn’t be good friends, but Penelope and David impressed me. It would’ve been easier for them to simply stand aside and do nothing.

Angie and I would call in the morning. Last year it’d been relatively new. This year? Not so much. This was our third out-of-state tournament, after all, and we’d been gone the entire summer, plus repeated trips around the state.

Even this summer could be different. We were hardly going to call them every day. In the age of cell phones, we would’ve texted regularly (and sent pictures!) but this was still the era of pay phones and postcards. We would keep up with them, but not daily.

We broke with our usual pattern and hung out for about an hour and a half before going to bed. Everyone wanted to play games and just be together, as much as anything because this would be the last night most of us would be in a hotel together with nothing to do.

Oh, some of us would be at Nationals together, and some of us might spend a lifetime traveling together, but I’d been traveling with Gene for years (just in this life!) and Sue, and this was the last time for that. The same was true with Lexi, Sheila, and quite a few others. Anne and Megan, Penny and Ben, and Jaya would keep traveling together, but it was their last trip with many of us. Jaya less so since she’d be at Nationals, but still.

There was always a ‘next trip’ right up until the point where there wasn’t. At least we all knew when that point was, and could enjoy the occasion.

Friday, April 27, 1984

Everyone slept late. We were in no rush. The first official event was at four, after all.

We had brunch — really, just lunch — at the student center, and then everyone split up into smaller groups to walk the campus or go back to the motel or whatever. Meg and Steffie didn’t even try to ride herd on us beyond getting us to promise not to leave campus except to go to the motel. Our motel, to our rooms! And to behave if we did!

Last year we’d been up in the air about colleges and could pretend this was a college trip. This year, we all knew where we were going, and could compare Kentucky to our respective destinations. I’m pretty sure that, in every opinion, it came up short. Nothing against Kentucky, per se, but we’d made our choices and were happy with them.

As we had last year, we went back to the motel around three, showered, and changed. For this trip, Jas and I had decided we’d just go for it, so I wore a maroon shirt and gold tie and she wore the maroon ao dai. Angie wore a pale green dress, and Paige wore pale pink, with belts in each other’s color. They weren’t being that subtle, but I suspected many people would completely miss the clues anyway.

Most of us wore what we’d generally wear, really, but there were some more standouts. Jaya wore an elegant sari, while Amit wore the same Nehru jacket from last year, but with different pants. More amusingly (and, given things, I thought she could get away with it) was Sheila wearing a sari of her own.

The standout (partly because she’s a standout in any crowd) was Jess. She’d done her hair up a bit, and wore a red long-sleeve blouse (sleeves partly rolled up) and jeans (also rolled up) with loafers. Practically no one would be wearing jeans, even to the casual meet and greet, but some of the Drama kids got her outfit immediately, and others would later, without a doubt. I had to imagine quite a few of the other coaches would recognize it, as well. It was a perfect homage to one of Grace Kelly’s outfits from ‘Rear Window’. If you knew the movie, you’d recognize it. If you didn’t, well, Jess is Jess and would cause her own stir.

She’d likely taken the Grace Kelly comment to heart, but this wasn’t her aping Grace, just paying tribute while wearing something no one else would ever wear.

Things were much the same at the meet and greet as they’d been last year. We might be different, but most schools weren’t. The Debaters were the Debaters, mostly in blue or black suits, with white shirts and blue or red ties. Most of the girls were in conservative professional women’s attire, too, although there was more variety there. The Drama kids were a far more eclectic mix, as they always were.

By this point, there was a certain amount of familiarity at the meet and greet. I recognized, at least vaguely, a few dozen debaters, along with more than a few of the Drama group. Many of us did, as evidenced by the Memorial kids splitting up and saying hello to various friends and frenemies.

The only Texas team we ran into was Blaine Davidson and Carlo Gutierrez from Grapevine. We also ran into Ava Benedict and Paul Kimball from Glenbrook North, who weren’t really even friends, just opponents. I didn’t see Christopher Hamilton anywhere. Hopefully they’d made it. If not, perhaps we’d see them at Nationals. I should have given him a call, but he wasn’t among those I really kept up with.