Chapter 5: Staying Alive

Medway High School, Arva, Ontario

1:09pm, Wednesday, February 14, 1979

“I would love to go to the Valentine’s Dance with you on Friday, Mike!” Lynette said a little too loudly again, which caused George to divert his attention from his Dungeons and Dragons‘ book to us.

When George quickly determined what just happened, he surprised both of us by saying, “It’s about time you two decided to take that next step in your relationship. I’ve watched you around school for some time now, and you two really go well together.”

Both Lynette and I were amazed at George’s previously unknown perceptive abilities, and his kind words to us. “Uh, thanks George,” I sheepishly said.

“Has it been that obvious?” Lynette asked with some disbelief.

“If you understand what you’re seeing, it is,” George replied. “Also, you learn more by listening than speaking, and I’ve heard other people around here say you two should get together, as well. My mother has always stressed to me, ‘Good couples are best friends first and foremost‘, and I think you two are best friends, yes?”

“Yes, we are, George. Yes, we are,” Lynette said for both of us. “That was very nice of you ... to say that about us.”

“Yes, thanks, George,” I added. “Sorry for disturbing your quiet time, again.”

“No problem. This is enjoyment reading not school work, so all is well here. Again, I’m happy for you.”

Lynette and I were smiling so bright in the back corner of the library that a power failure wouldn’t have dimmed the light level around us. I’m sure her heart was pounding every bit as hard as mine right now, as I was thanking my lucky stars for being able to say I was now officially going out with the prettiest girl in the 10^th grade, and my best girl-friend, too.

“Uh, Mike,” Lynette calmly said, which broke me out of my dreamlike state. “How are we planning on doing this date, on Friday?”

“Oh, huh, I’m going to simply stay and get cleaned up after our game against Glencoe. What about you?”

“Oh, I’ll be at your game all right, so I’ll just hang here, too, ‘til the dance starts up. Uh, what about after the dance? You don’t have your license, yet, do you?”

“No,” I said somewhat dejectedly like a balloon quickly deflating. “Paul and Cathy McGregory, and I are signed up for Driver’s Ed at Fanshawe College, but those classes don’t start until early March. I was going to get with either the Lunby’s or Paul to see which of our folks could get us after the dance, like we do for most of our late basketball practices.”

“If you want, I can give you a ride home after the dance,” she said with a gleam in her eyes. “I just got my license last week, and my mom said I can use, uh, drive her ‘73 Ford Galaxie 500. It’s not the nicest of wheels, but it rides real nice and it has LOTS of room.” I definitely picked up on Lynette’s added emphasis of the word ‘lots’, which just added more fuel to my 16-year-old hormone driven body.

“That sounds great,” I quickly replied back to her. Then, I remembered something my mother and dad had said about riding in cars with other students. “Ah, Lynette, I’ll have to double check with my parents to make sure riding with you is okay. I’m sure it will be, but they have a thing about riding with other students, especially at night. I’ll let you know first thing tomorrow morning, ‘K?”

She nodded her head affirmatively and said, “My folks were somewhat like that too. You can tell them I’m a good driver and I don’t speed. If I get even one speeding ticket, my dad said my driving privileges will be gone one month for each $10 the ticket costs. I think the smallest speeding ticket amount now is something like $45, and I’d die without driving for 4 months!”

“Ouch!” I chuckled in reply. “Don’t think I’ll tell that little bit to my parents. Don’t want to give them any ideas for me after I get my license. I’ll do my best to convince them to let me get a ride home with you, though. Keep your fingers crossed.”

“You live about 10 miles north of here, don’t you?”

“Yuppers,” I replied. “It’s a fairly simple route to my place. Head over to Highbury, then go north to Bryanston, and my casa is the first HUGE brick house on the left past the BP variety store in the metropolis of B-ton.” I moved my arms wide apart to emphasis the sarcastic nature of my description of my little, one intersection town. “I live in a former church house, uh, residency that is just past the boarded up church building. You can’t miss it.”

“I hope not, because I really hope you are with me as I’m driving you home!” I gave myself a soft face-palm smack for being a dimwit. Lynette definitely let me know she agreed with my self-assessment by chuckling at my well-earned self-deprivation.

We heard the warning bell for the end of the 7^th period, as we sat and stared at each other for a moment. As I pushed back in my chair to get up, I heard Lynette softly ask, “Do we tell everybody we’re an item now, or should we just let them figure it out on their own?”

“I’m good shouting it from the roof tops, and I’m good letting others try to figure out what is going on between us. So, if you want to tell someone, I’m cool and if you don’t, that works, too.”

Lynette looked at me like my answer was basically useless, which it honestly was. I grinned back at her which set her giggling and she smacked me on the arm with her small flute case. I figured I better give a semi-definitive answer, so I said, “If you, if we tell even one of our friends, it will be around school in no time flat. So, let’s just say something to Joanne or Heidi, or the Lunbys or even Warren in music and get that out of the way.”

She smiled at me and said, “Good idea. I’m happy to be your new girlfriend, now, not just your best girl friend.” I put my hand on her shoulder as we headed out of the library towards the music room at the back of the school. About half way there, I let my hand slide down her left arm and our fingers interlocked as we confidently strode to Mr. Ballows’ band room.

“So, what is the deal with you and that song you were humming back there?”

“Uh, it’s pretty complicated and will take a lot more time for me to explain than we have now, and I’d rather tell you everything in private if you don’t mind.” Lynette tilted her head up at me and gave me a slightly annoyed look, but when I added, “I’ll tell you EVERYTHING later, I promise,” she simply returned to her extra bubbly self for the remainder of our short walk to music.

After we turned the down the short hall to the large music room, we heard a sharp squeal from Joanne, Lynette’s lifelong best friend. “Oooh, Lord! I knew it, I knew it, I knew!” Joanne said as she bounced a few steps towards us. Any semblance of quietly letting our friends know about our new status was quickly blown out of the water by that wild display from Joanne. “I knew you two were going to come to your senses sooner or later. I’m so happy for you Lyny. Oh, you too, Mike!”

Soon a small crowd was gathered outside the music room, wishing us good luck and forever-like teenage happiness. When the ‘Little-Man’, Mr. Ballows stepped out of his office, our little celebratory party quickly dispersed and we headed into the large band room. I stopped by the instrument storage shelves and grabbed my trusty trombone and then headed to my seat in the back row of the practice auditorium. While I was adjusting my trombone and mouthpiece, I kept an eye on Lynette as she and her friends got their wind instruments out and ready. They were clearly sharing and discussing our new relationship status, as I saw several girls turn slightly to gaze up at me every few seconds.

“Attention, attention,” Mr. Ballows called out and tapped his conductor’s wand against his music podium. The Little-Man was all of five-foot-four-inches tall, and maybe a buck-thirty in weight, hence his nickname. “Just a reminder that you can earn some extra credit points towards your music grade, either tomorrow or Friday in class. You’ll have to either perform and/or sing some original piece of music you put together. You’ve known about this for several weeks now. Sooo, does anyone have any questions?”

I saw Samantha raise her hand first and ask, “Do we have to play the music on these instruments or can we play them on something else like a guitar or piano, or some non-orchestral instrument?”

“Good question, Ms. Labatt. Seeing how I didn’t place any restrictions on that assignment, I think I’ll allow you to use whatever instrument or vocal talents you chose to enlighten us with. Just remember though, that it must be your own composition and not your version or cover of a popular song or musical arrangement. Just so you know, Mr. Feelt and I do this activity to help identify young musicians who display some talent in musical writing.”

“How long does this piece have to be?” I heard Warren Grainger ask. Warren was a smart young guy who played the baritone, sang in the two main school choirs, and played on the JV basketball team last year. However, he was seriously injured before the end of that season when he dislocated his kneecap during a practice. That effectively ended his high school competitive sporting activities.

“I would say you need at least a verse or two if it’s a vocal song and a good minute or two if you are just playing an instrument. Also, you must provide me with a copy of the music you wrote and/or the words you put to music. This isn’t a ‘play from memory’ or ‘play-by-ear’ assignment. If you are going to compose a song or write a piece of music, you need to use proper musical notation, which Mr. Feelt and I have shown you these past couple of years.”

Our high school music teachers were a real ‘odd-couple’. Where Mr. Ballows was the Little-Man, who dressed impeccably and was somewhat cold and stern in his mannerisms, Mr. Feelt was a six-foot-eight, self-styled hippy, who was one of Canada’s leading vocal teachers and choral directors. Mr. Feelt actually turned down an opportunity to lead Harvard University’s choir in 1975 or ‘76. The Feeltster also helped coach our ‘big men’ as an assistant coach, when our basketball practices didn’t interfere with his main choral duties.

As I really wasn’t into composing music or singing during my previous trip through high school, I hadn’t really paid too much heed to what the Little-Man was saying about this extra credit assignment. However, I caught Lynette staring back at me out of the corner of my eye and she seemed all frantic or agitated about something. When I mouthed, ‘What?‘ to her, she quickly smiled and mouthed back, ‘Can we do something for this extra credit?‘

My head just about exploded as I was suddenly rocked or bombarded with crazy new mental processes and feelings. First, that Van Halen song, Right Now popped back into my head. Surprisingly however, I struggled to recall the words to the opening verse of that song, as my brain suddenly appeared burned out. The suddenness or newness of being Lynette’s boyfriend, plus this spontaneous and unexpected musical request from her had my teenage brain in a tizzy.

The buzzing in my head stopped and I recalled that I could use that future Van Halen song or any future song, if I wanted to because of the Energists’ gift to me. I sat straight up in my chair and closed my eyes for a second to envision everything about that awesome Sammy Hagar sung song. As I grappled with it, I felt a small but recognizable surge of energy around my chest area. Suddenly, my Energist provided computer device materialized just above my lap.

I quickly looked all around me to make sure no one could see this strange computer suspended in space in front of me. I relaxed when I saw everyone ignoring me and my computer as they carried on with Mr. Ballows’ discussion of this extra credit assignment. I immediately remembered that the Energists said this device would be cloaked and undetectable by anyone around me, unless I specifically wanted them to see and access the information on its display.

When the display came on, I instantly saw both the lyrics and the musical notation for Right Now. As I gazed at the screen, my grin grew when I realized how perfectly this song meshed with this unique adventure trip I was now undertaking. As I read the words, I heard my energized voice sing:

“Don’t wanna wait ‘til tomorrow,
Why put it off another day?
One more walk through problems,
Built up, and stand in our way, ah!
One step ahead, one step behind me
Now you gotta run to get even
Make future plans, don’t dream about yesterday, hey!
C’mon turn, turn this thing around!

Right now, hey! It’s your tomorrow
Right now, C’mon, it’s everything
Right now, Catch a magic moment, do it
Right here and now. It means everything.

Miss the beat, you lose the rhythm,
And nothing falls into place, no!
Only missed by a fraction,
Slipped a little off your pace, oh!
The more things you get, the more you want,
Just trade in one for the other,
Workin’ so hard, to make it easier, whoa!
Got to turn, c’mon turn this thing around!

Right now, hey! It’s your tomorrow
Right now, C’mon, it’s everything
Right now, Catch that magic moment, do it
Right here and now. It means everything
It’s enlightened me, right now
What are you waitin’ for!
Oh, yeah, right now.“

As I pondered what to do here with Lynette’s request, I recalled that the Energists said it was alright for me to pilfer or claim any future non-industrial or technological creation such as a song, story or composition as my own. Because I was in their universe when the Energists said that to me, I didn’t really think too much about that added enhancement. Writing songs or stories wasn’t high on my previous agenda, so why bother focusing on that specific aspect. I also didn’t foresee that as a new, must use desire. However, as I noticed in the first two lines of the second verse and its reference to musical performance, the Energists’ suggestion that I look into expanding my horizons or venture into areas beyond my previous comfort zones, hit me like a ton of bricks.

With that thought now running through my mind, it created a new question in my mind about the morality of claiming or in plain terms, ‘stealing’ someone else’s FUTURE work. If I did claim this 1992 song by Van Halen as my own creation, the Energists said the ‘original’ artists and/or creators wouldn’t suffer any ill effects from my actions. Therefore, I thought if nobody would be harmed, especially financially or professionally, what detriment would arise from my using this gift from the Energists? All these questions were making my 40-year-old memory system within my 16-year-old body very tired to say the least.

When I decided to use at least part of this song for Mr. Ballows’ extra credit assignment with Lynette, I basically saw Lynette as she appeared right after asking me to work with her on this assignment. When I mouthed back, ‘Okay‘ and nodded, her brown eyes sparkled with excitement and she quickly settled back down into her front row seat.

As I self-justified my decision, I realized I just experienced a ‘time-stop’ like sensation for the second time today. Both occurred either while being visited by the Energists and Kaleigh or with my usage of my cloaked computing device. I was now getting a better understanding of how the Energists were limiting any extraneous knowledge of their, and/or my device’s existence. While everything that had happened so far today had been somewhat mentally taxing, it had also been a ton of fun, especially as I integrated the enhancements I’d been given by the Energists.

The remainder of our music class was relatively uneventful. I did play my trombone better than I ever had before, which earned me an ‘atta-boy’ from Mr. Ballows. When he added, “If you keep playing like that, we might make a real musician out of you, yet,” I suddenly felt a strong desire to not only reach the ‘real musician’ level of playing which Mr. Ballows was thinking of, but to become a true world class musician. As I digested that sudden, unexpected desire, I felt a small tingling sensation throughout my body, especially within my hands, fingers, and in my throat area. Once more, I knew something just happened to me but I was somewhat clueless as to the implication of that unique sensation and what all it would entail for me and my friends.

I waited at the door with Warren for Lynette, Joanne, Samantha and Heidi as we all had 9^th period geography with Mr. St. George. Lynette and I walked hand in hand behind our friends as we went back up the stairs to the front of the school. We both got a funny look from Mr. St. George when he saw us walk into his room holding hands. He then cracked everyone up as he addressed us, “Are you two going to behave in here or do I need to separate you two love-birds?”

I simply smiled and held my free hand up to my chest in mock indignation for that question, while Lynette simply replied, “I’m good, uh, we’ll be good Mr. St. G.”

Mr. St. George grinned back at us and said, “We’ll see, won’t we.”

We had just finished an instructional unit on the Canadian Prairies, so ‘Froggie’ (our nickname for the native of Gatineau, Quebec) started class talking about our next geography unit on Australia. I quickly remembered I loved this unit and previously set a lifetime goal of visiting that wonderful country. After watching a short movie on the huge diversity of people, unique Aussie animals and wide variety of landscapes, we selected our work partners and were assigned one of 13 major topics to research and present to the class. Lynette quickly agreed to work with me and we were assigned Australian Entertainment as our tag-team project.

Froggie had various texts, maps, slides and videos set out around the room for us to use as resources. When Lynette and I both saw the limited materials containing entertainment information, we started to worry and asked Mr. St. George what else we could use as resources for our topic.

“The library has a good section on Australia and I think if you looked at this problem from a more global perspective, say music or cinema, you might find specific references to Aussie performers or actors.” I quickly caught on to what Froggie was saying to us.

However, Lynette still appeared a little foggy on things so I said, “You’re talking about finding information through back-door like channels, aren’t you Coach?” He smiled and nodded at me. Lynette still didn’t grasp my meaning so I tried to clarify it for her. “If we find some good entertainment information on music, film, TV or possibly comedy in general, there may be some items associated with Aussie performers, actors or comedians. If uh, we look up top music for example, we might be able to ID who were either Australian or had an impact on the Aussie entertainment scene.”

“Ok I get it now,” Lynette said with a smile. “That sounds like a fun way of learning things too. Oh, I already know of several key Australian entertainers. I think AC/DC started there and uh, the... Staying Alive and Saturday Night Fever group, uh the...”

“The BeeGees,” I added when she had a small brain cramp there. Suddenly, I felt a small sensation in the back of my head and broke out in my best Barry Gibb falsetto:

“Whether you’re a brother or whether you’re a mother.

Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin’ alive... “

The class, Mr. St. George and Lynette all stopped and stared at me there. Lynette then said, “Wow that was pretty sweet!” She then giggled out, “How in the world did I forget their name? Jeeze! Well, I believe we have a handle on how to do this now. Thanks Mr. St. G.” Froggie raised an eyebrow at me as he patted Lynette on her back, and was quickly corralled by a few other students with project issues.

We both sat down and tried to formulate a plan for doing this class project. We had three weeks to prepare it and were given each Tuesday’s and Thursday’s class time to work on our projects. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays were going to be regular geography type classes with Froggie teaching the basics of Australian geography. Lynette and I agreed we might need to hit either London’s main public library or UWO’s library at some point to gather additional materials and resources.

As expected, and I’m not complaining one bit here, Lynette also turned this school activity into a social activity by suggesting we try to do a dinner and movie or some type of fun activity, either before or after our project time. We agreed to set the specifics later on as the final bell rang and we helped Mr. St. George pack up his Australian materials.

“So, Nevins,” my favorite PE and geography teacher coolly said. He then teased us with, “So you grow an inch or so, pack on a few pounds of muscle, drop a little BeeGees on us, and all of a sudden you’ve got the prettiest girl in your grade wrapped around your finger. What’s up with that?”

“Well uh, actually, you’re mistaken, Sir,” I coolly replied back to my teacher. “See, I really think Lynette here as ME ensnared in her hand.” Mr. St. George laughed at my reply and Lynette swatted me on my arm but giggled out an affirmation as well.

“Touché, Mr. Nevins,” he joked back at us. “Just stay out of trouble, you two. You both are good kids and I’d hate to see or hear of anything that could mess up your lives.” We both looked at each other as we listened to his somewhat fatherly advice and told him we’ll be smart about things. Froggie added one final comment as we headed out of the room. “Just be smarter than your hormones, merci.”

Lynette laughed laxly as we heard his final words from just outside the classroom door, which surprised me a little. I didn’t say anything about it as we walked the short distance back to our lockers. I stood beside her with my hand on her shoulder as she opened up her locker. When she pulled out her gym bag, she turned to me and softly asked, “Are you going to be smarter than your hormones, Monsieur Nevins?”

My eyebrows shot up quickly at her question and then I took a deep breath and calmly said, “I sure hope so. I can tell you this, though. We’ll move at whatever pace YOUR hormones suggest in our new relationship here. And IF or WHEN it gets to the point where both our hormones are in overdrive, I’ll do my best to keep my brain turned on and working.” Right then I was somewhat glad to have my 40 years of experiences to rely on because I’m sure if I just had a normal 16-year-olds’ knowledge set, my hormones would definitely be the victor in a private, close quarter situations with a girl like Lynette.

Lynette smiled up at me as I said that. She then said, “That is one of the reasons why I wanted to go out with you. Your ex, uh, CCH, said you pushed things along but always respected any limitations she put down. God, I know that slowing or stopping can be a bitch when things REALLY get going. But uh, if you can remember to be the smart one during those times, I would especially like that.” Lynette’s cheeks got rosy as she backhandedly talked about a possible hormonally charged and challenging situation with me.

“I’ll do my best, Lynette, but you ah ... I’ll do my best to stay smart, but with you,” I gave her a quick once over here, “it sure won’t be easy to stay smart.” I then pulled her in tight to me and gave her a little peck on her forehead.

“That’s so sweet of you to say.” She then did a quick scan of the hallways for teachers and when she didn’t see any, she dramatically tilted her head up to me and said, “That isn’t where I want my first real kiss from you to land.”

You didn’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out what to do next. I slipped my right hand behind her head and gently kissed her soft lips at first. I then added a little more pressure to her lips and with my hand on her head. When I released the pressure and moved slightly back from her, Lynette’s eyes were closed and her cute little button nose was flaring some as she took short sniffs of oxygen. I waited for her to slowly open her eyes before I moved back to kiss her again. This time, I gently probed her lips with my exploring tongue. When she started to loosen her lips, I lightly ran my tongue along the small opening before I pulled it back into my mouth and gave her lips one final tight pucker.

“Oh, lord, yeah,” was all Lynette could whisper as I looked on her dreamy face. Her dirty blonde, wavy hair hung loosely down to the midpoint of her back as she kept her head tilted up at me. When I gently massaged her scalp with my fingernails, she smiled and simply said, “Good decision, Lynette, very good decision.”

I smiled at her words and her beautiful expression and said, “Yes it was, if you’re referring to letting me know about asking you out.” Lynette nodded her beautiful head one time and moved up to plant one single, sweet kiss on my nose.

When she finally closed her locker after about thirty seconds with me scratching the back of her head, she went up on her tippy toes and gave me one last peck on the lips before bouncing off in the direction of the gym for her volleyball practice. “Are you going to watch me practice?” she called out from fifty feet away.

“Some,” I shouted. “I’m going to get my homework done, first. Have fun!” Lynette jogged and danced her way through a few stragglers who probably needed to hustle to catch the buses for home. Her butt looked amazing as she zig-zagged her way through the crowd and her shiny dark blonde hair flowed gracefully behind her before I lost sight of my new girlfriend.

I slowly walked the short distance to my locker and grabbed my personal finance text and blinder, plus my Texas Instrument calculator from the top shelf. As I was about to close my locker, I was startled when someone slammed their hand against the open door, which caused me to drop my chunky, big calculator.

“Damn it,” I cursed as I saw it hit the floor before I could recapture it. When I looked to see who surprised me like that, I saw my beautiful next door neighbor in an apparent state of confusion. “Cathy, what the, ah, oh man. What’s the matter?”

While she wasn’t crying, I instantly could tell she was majorly upset about something. I didn’t bother to pick up my calculator before I stood up and started to put my arms around her.

She somewhat stopped me and pulled back a little before she struggled to say, “I thought, uh, may be you and, and ... but I just sa-saw you kissing and being all lovin’ with Lynette. I just thought ... thought we might, oh never mind.” She put her hands up over her face to try and cover a little of her misery but anyone with half a brain could tell her true emotional state right then.

‘Damn it!‘ I suddenly thought. What once was an amazing day suddenly turned into a teenage nightmare moment for me. I stood there speechless for a moment or two as I tried to put Cathy’s disjointed, halting words into a clear thought. When I pieced ‘kissing, lovin Lynette’ with ‘thought we might’, I realized she was hoping we would get back together, and now she was suddenly hurt by my new relational status with Lynette.

‘Holy crap, just, holy crap!’ I suddenly thought. Cathy apparently wanted to be my girlfriend again, too.

When she started to turn around, I reached out and put my hand on her shoulder. “Cathy wait please,” I softly said. “Can I...”

“You don’t need to explain anything, Mike.” She said without looking at me. As she turned back to me, she added, “I’m sorry for scaring you there, and breaking your calculator. I, uh, was just upset for a moment ... Now I’m more upset with myself, here, than with anything you’ve done.”

I let my hand slide down her soft sweater covered arm and held her fingers gently in mine. “I didn’t know, Cathy. I didn’t realize you wanted to uh ... this is a big change from before. I didn’t think you wanted to go out ‘officially’ with me because of Paul, and us being next door neighbors.”

“I know, I know ... that is how I felt before and it, I still felt like that up ‘til today, even. Then, uh, right as we got up from lunch, something about you, about you and me actually, just changed, and I don’t know what it was but...”

My mind was racing again as I tried to figure out what Cathy remembered from our extraordinary lunch time experience. Apparently, she couldn’t remember all the specifics or the main events, but subconsciously she was incorporating Kaleigh’s words or idea about ‘jumping into the fire‘ with me right here and now.

When she saw me halfway staring into space as I processed this, she said, “God, Mike, I’m sorry for all this, but I’ve got to run to band practice.”

“Okay.”

I silently watched her hightail it down the hallway towards the music room. Normally, I loved to watch a sexy girl like Cathy zooming along. But now, I only wished my mind was as silent as her footfalls. There I stood at my tenth grade locker with the world seemingly at my feet and all I could do was blankly stare at her long ponytail swinging wildly behind her as she disappeared from my sight.