Chapter 7: Resonance

Grandma and Grandpa Carson live in the town of Hercules, California. It is what is known as a 'bedroom community', being a suburb of the San Francisco/Oakland area, which is mostly residential homes. It sits on the Eastern shore of San Pedro Bay, and is almost exactly due West of Angel's Camp. It used to be home to the Hercules Powder Co, which operated a dynamite plant there until the early 70's, when they closed the plant and sold out to developers. Grandpa Carson said there had been a real boom during the Eighties as homes were built and people moved to the low-density, park-like developments. 'The local economy sucks!!', he says, but as a couple of retirees, he and Grandma don't seem to be all that worried. Still, Mom had been working on them for several years to move to Angel's Camp to be near us, and they could afford to consider it, I think. Grandma Carson had been a lawyer, back in the day when women lawyers were rare, and she had done pretty well for herself in that field.

Grandpa Carson had been a pilot for Pan Am, and then United, and then spent the last 15 years before he retired flying corporate and entertainment charters on international flights around the globe. He had been early in and early out in several different profit sharing plans, and had also taken some pay in stock from corporate clients a couple of times. According to him, he had even taken a half a point on the profits of a movie from some producers he'd flown to Africa. They were both exceedingly smart and capable people, and that had not been dimmed by retirement. But to be honest, I never thought of them as rich, because they were so unassuming, and of course I had the legendary Grandpa McKesson burned into my brain as the definition of 'wealthy'.

Christmas and New Years went by very quickly. Two weeks can fly by when you're busy being young and having fun. I almost managed to forget about the big stir we'd left behind us in Angel's Camp, but it didn't take long to be reminded. Monday morning I was back in school. Ginny and her friend Alicia met me at the door, when I got to school and quickly pulled me aside.

"Victor Maitland has been expelled! George Mullins has been suspended for the rest of the year! Kenny, Teddy and Bobby have been suspended for a month! Alicia said, all in one long, breathless but bouncy sentence.

"Gloria heard that Victor's dad is sending him to military school in Texas." Ginny added, "and George's dad has grounded him for the rest of the school year!"

Ginny followed up her share of the revelations with her patented World's Best Smile in its jumbo grin size, and then, right there in from of Alicia and what seemed like half the school, she hugged me. She hugged me long and hard, and yes, once the initial shock was over, I hugged her back! Once the hug was over of course, the secondary and tertiary shock set in, and I was pretty oblivious to my surroundings until a couple of minutes into the first class, when my name was called for attendance.

The next 18 months were an amazing time for me. I had begun some friendships which would prove to be lifelong. I had discovered girls in a wonderful way, and more importantly, I'd been discovered back.