Chapter 25: Flamethrower

Medway High School, Arva

9:25, Tuesday morning, February 20, 1979

“Hey guys!” Samantha called out as she rounded the corner and saw Paul, Cathy and me beside the cart with Cathy’s drums stacked upon it. “Whatcha doing?”

“My dad has our small trailer out front and he’s going to bring my drums home with him tonight,” Cathy said as she picked up her drum throne.

“Why are you here this early?” Paul asked the petite redheaded girl as she waited for us to push the cart along past her.

“I wasn’t sure what to do about my cleaning duties, you know my punishment from Friday ... because of our unexpected holiday, yesterday,” Sam replied. “So, I figured I would come in early this morning to see if Mr. Egon wanted me to help him. Thankfully, he said that my willingness to come in early today to help would count as my Monday work day. Then, because he had most of his morning duties done, he said I was free to go.”

“That’s my Uncle John, for you,” I said as pushed the cart around the corner and headed on down the back hallway. “He’s good at reading people, and if he sees that drive and commitment in you, he’ll have your back.”

“I told him I appreciated what he did for me this morning, and that I’d see him at ‘oh-six-hundred hours’ tomorrow morning.” Just as we got to the main hallway leading to the front of the school, Sam grabbed Cathy by the arm and asked, “Is your garage going to be big enough or functional enough for us to practice in regularly?”

“It’s not that big, is it, Paul?” Cathy replied and passed the buck onto her brother for assistance with Sam’s question.

“It’s a single car garage, which we mostly use for storage,” Paul added to his sister’s statement.

“Will all five of us be able to play, and, you know, move around in it?” Sammy added as we all stood at the intersection of the main hallway and the back hallway of the school.

“I...” I stretched that pronoun out for a couple of seconds, “ ... highly doubt it, now that I’m picturing the space in my head. It was a little cramped with just us three playing, right?”

“Yeah, it was and it definitely will be, if we’re all there,” Paul replied in an unhappy tone.

“I’ve got a pretty good space in our guest house that we could use as our practice area, if you’d like,” Samantha offered as she looked at us. “My dad offered that space to my previous band, but they decided not to use it.”

“Are you sure it will be alright with your parents?” Cathy asked. “I know my parents would love to reclaim the garage space for my mom’s new car, but they’re good with us using it to practice.”

“It won’t be a problem,” Sammy opined as the two young ladies moved together and did that girl-hug routine.

Paul nodded his head towards them and made a move towards me, which earned him a rapid, “Don’t even think about trying it, dude!” from me.

After the two girls separated their upper bodies from each other, Sammy just shook her head at Paul and me, and said, “Guys! ... You can’t live with them, but you can’t just kill them, either.”

“Amen, sister,” Cathy quickly added as she high-fived her smaller friend.

“Hey, now!” I intoned towards the two smiling girls. “That’s not a nice thing to say, especially on this shortened school day.” Both girls just waved their hands in a ‘you’re full of it‘ manner in Paul’s and my direction before they re-hugged each other.

I couldn’t resist this time, so I played acted with Paul, and stupidly said, “Oh, Paul, you are such a wonderful guy, come here so I can love on you.”

We quickly stepped apart when we heard a loud, “Come on you lovebirds! I don’t have all day to wait on you,” coming from the twins’ dad at the front door.

“We’re coming, Dad,” Cathy shouted back at her father. Paul took ahold of the front of the cart, while I pushed at the rear. We met Tom at the front door of the school and Cathy introduced Samantha to him.

After that quick exchange of pleasantries, Samantha asked, “Would it be okay if we kept Cathy’s drums and Paul’s bass guitar over at my house? We’d have a large, safe practice area to use, and my parents are definitely good with it.”

“I suppose,” Mr. McGregory replied. “Do you have a way to get these drums to your house from here?”

“Uh, if your trailer has a two inch ball hitch, I can pull it behind my Bronco,” Sam said.

“That works for me,” Mr. McGregory quickly replied. “I guess we should load these up and then I can...” He somewhat hesitated with the next step in this action plan.

“I’ll run and drive my beast around front, while you guys load the trailer,” Sam enthusiastically said as she turned to run back down the hallway.

“Okay,” Tom said as he held the front doors open for Paul and me. “You heard that little Spitfire, let’s load the drums in the trailer.”

Once we had that simple task done and had the trailer hooked up to Sam’s Bronco, Cathy asked her dad, “Is it alright if we ride over to Sam’s house after choir practice, tonight?”

“I’ll give them a ride home afterwards, as well as your trailer,” Sammy quickly interjected.

“I guess. What time do you think you’ll be home? You might have homework, remember.”

Paul, Cathy and Sam stared at each other for a few seconds, while Mr. McGregory and I looked on. Without a word being uttered, Sammy then replied, “Will seven-thirty be good? I’ll order a pizza, so we won’t starve to death or anything.”

“Sounds good,” Mr. McGregory said. He then added towards his kids, “I’ll call your mother to let her know about this. Have a good day and enjoy your band practice.”

“Thanks, Dad,” both twins said in unison as their dad walked back to his Ford Explorer.

“Have a good day, Tom,” I added, which drew a stare from Samantha at my using that proper name.

“We, all of us,” I said as I waved at Paul and Cathy, “call their dad by his first name. Both of their parents are good with that.”

“Ah, okay,” Sam replied. “Any of you want to ride around back and help me park this trailer?”

“I will,” Paul quickly interjected.

Just then a car horn sounded on the road. We looked up and saw Lynette in her mother’s car slow down and turned into the student parking area. I turned to Cathy and said, “Come on, Cathy. We’ll walk and meet them and Lynette at the back entrance.”

“Okay, see you two at the back,” Sammy said as she walked around to the driver’s door of her Bronco. “I’ll have to pop the lock for you, Paul. Give me a sec.”

Cathy and I waited about two minutes by the rear entrance to the school before we saw Lynette, Sam and Paul come around the corner of the building.

“What took you so long?” Cathy said as the three of them walked through the open door.

“Just enjoying the cool, crisp air,” Lynette said with a smile.

As I looked at her, I couldn’t tell if there was more to it than that. Cathy on the other hand, immediately noticed something fishy going on with them and called, “BS! Something happened out back, I can tell. Spill it!”

Paul started to turn a shade of red, and Samantha actually tried to drop her face and hide it from our view after Cathy’s obviously correct assessment of this new situation. When I looked at Lynette, she just shrugged her shoulders and waved at the two, suddenly shy culprits.

“What did you do, Paul?” I asked of my blushing best friend.

“Me? I, uh, really didn’t do anything,” he unconvincingly replied to my inquiry.

“Paul really didn’t do anything,” Samantha softly added. When she looked up at us, she said, “I asked him how his weekend went, and he, uh, told me about all the fun you guys had. Then, he said his girlfriend had dumped him over the phone last night. Well, I ... when I leaned over to give him a hug ... one thing led to another and uh...”

After a short awkward moment of silence, Lynette chimed in with, “They were lip-locked in Sammy’s Bronco, when I walked over to see what was keeping them. If I hadn’t knocked on her door, they’d still be out there, I’m guessing.”

“Get out!” Cathy shouted and broke into a huge grin. “Are you ... you know, like thinking about going out?”

Paul had the biggest grin on his face that I had ever seen. I knew he wanted to blurt out something but he did well at holding his tongue, which allowed Samantha time to answer Cathy’s question. “We, uh, haven’t really had any time to talk about stuff like that, but uh, if he...” and she took a hold of Paul’s hand, “ ... wants to go out, I’d really like that.”

Once more, Paul let his actions speak for him. He pulled Sam into her arms and gave her a big hug and kissed the top of her head.

“Alright!” Lynette shouted, and I added, “Paulie and Sammy, nice!” as I pulled my girlfriend into my body.

Cathy stepped up and wrapped her arms around her brother and Sammy, and said, “I’m so happy for you.”

That little surprising celebration was short lived, as Mr. Matherson, our principal walked in the rear door and unceremoniously said, “Enough of that. You know the rules about physical contact here on school grounds.”

“Yes, sir!” all of us replied in near unison and moved apart as the older gentleman made his way down the back hallway.

“Holy smokes, you two,” Lynette finally broke the silence as our principal made the turn down the main hallway towards the front offices. “So just like, you hit it off, huh?”

“It wasn’t planned ... from my perspective,” Paul finally said. “But I sure wasn’t going to turn down a kiss when, uh, Sam leaned over towards me in her Bronco.”

“Smart boy,” Samantha said as Paul pulled her in for a small bear-hug. She turned back towards Lynette and me, before she sarcastically added, “Unlike my previous boyfriend.”

“What am I missing?” Cathy replied after Lynette, Sammy and I let out a small chuckle.

“As you probably can figure out, Matt dumped me after the dance, Friday night,” Samantha softly related that bit of news to Cathy and Paul. “I’m kinda glad about it because unlike Paul here, Matt never really seemed interested in doing any fun stuff like kissing for hours, or good stuff that follows good kisses.”

“We’re happy for you, both of you, really,” Lynette said as we slowly moved on down the back hallway.

As we passed the short hallway to the music room and cafeteria, we heard Mr. Williamson’s voice over the PA speakers. “May I have your attention please? If there are any varsity basketball players here, please report to the locker room. Also, we have reports that several buses will be delayed in their arrival to school. Therefore, students will report to their homerooms at 10:30, and we’ll begin our regular schedule of classes at 10:45, the fourth period. I’ll have more announcements during our new homeroom session. Normal pre-homeroom areas are open for your use.”

I turned to face my band mates as the hum from the PA speakers ended and said, “I haven’t seen any other basketball players here, yet, but I better head on to the locker room.” I then gave Lynette a hug and quick kiss on her cheek. “I wonder what’s going on?”

“Hopefully, nothing serious. Let me know, okay?” Lynette replied as I moved back from her and started to walk towards our locker room.

“See you guys later,” I said over my shoulder. “Oh!” I added as I turned and back-pedaled. “Why don’t you guys let Sam in on what we talked about the other day? All y’all know my thoughts and opinions.”

“Good idea,” Cathy and Lynette replied in unison. “I’ll fill you in on things in homeroom,” Lynette fired off at me as I turned and scampered down the side corridor to the locker room.

As I approached the varsity locker room, I saw both Jon and Andy Lunby, and Kollin and Matthew Werring walking from the front of the school. “Any idea what this is about?” I asked thinking one of the older Werring brothers might have a clue as to our meeting.

“Nope,” Matthew replied as I held the door to the locker room open for those four guys. The others all negatively shook their heads after our captain’s simple answer. Once inside the room, we sat and chatted about our weekend. About two minutes later, Matt Connell, Mike Horichek and Bruce Smyth walked in. By the look on their faces, they too appeared in the dark as to why we were here.

“Ladies,” Matt humorously addressed us as he took a seat in front of his locker area. “Anything new or exciting happen during our extended weekend?”

Just then, the inner door to the locker room opened and Mr. Williamson said, “I’ve got some news but it’s definitely not exciting or welcome, Matt ... gentlemen.” That most definitely got everyone’s attention as our vice-principal and coach strode into our locker room. “Seven of you, hum. The rest of the team must be on the storm delayed buses. Anyhow, I’ve got some bad news, which I wanted you to hear from me, first.” Our coach paused for a moment and walked to the shower entrance, where he could see all of us. He then said, “Dennis and Jimmy were in a car accident on Saturday night. Dennis has a broken right femur, and torn knee ligaments.”

“Oh, crap!” Matthew exclaimed which pretty much summarized all our thoughts right then.

“Is he going to be okay?” I asked as I had probably the closest friendship with Dennis of anyone on the team.

“His parents said he was in a good bit of pain,” Coach Williamson explained. “But the Dr. Kennedy, at Western, did a good job of resetting the bone. Dennis will have another surgery to repair his ACL and MCL ligaments in a few days. He’ll probably be back at school sometime next week. Jimmy, though...” Coach paused and slowly swallowed before continuing, “ ... Jimmy was thrown from his Jeep Wrangler and uh, his back was crushed, and he’s ... he’s paralyzed from his mid-chest down.”

“What? No!” Bruce shouted out as we struggled to process what our coach just said to us.

“Jimmy was hurt really bad, when the Jeep rolled on him. He’s got major internal problems, in addition to being paralyzed. He’s in critical condition at University Hospital ICU, and uh, his doctors’ said he might not make it.”

You could have heard a pin drop in our locker room as most of the guys, me included, hung our heads down in disbelief. The ‘clacking’ of Coach Williamson’s dress shoes broke the silence as he strode across the tilled floor to the inner door when he heard the outer door bang shut. He peered out into the restroom area and said to some unknown guy, “Can you please use a different restroom? Thanks.”

“He, Jimmy, really might not make it?” Bruce asked after a too long a moment of uncomfortable silence.

“That is what I was told, when I went by the hospital Sunday afternoon,” Coach Williamson replied. “I’m going to announce this awful news during homeroom, and then I’m going to hospital to see him and his family. With this out there now, I’m going to make our five to seven practice, optional today. If I’m not back, you can either workout with the JV team or head on out. Mr. St. Georges knows some of you might practice with his team. Understood?”

“Yes, sir,” most of us glumly replied.

“I hate that this has happened to Jimmy and Dennis, but this is just ... something life throws at us which we have to deal with. I hope everyone here is okay. Please, try to focus on your classes today, and uh, if you are so inclined ... maybe say a prayer for Jimmy, Dennis and their families.”

I’m sure a few of guys were already silently saying a prayer for Jimmy and his family. I sure was. I wasn’t sure how long I sat there, but when I felt a gentle touch on my back, I looked up and saw that Matt Connell was the only guy, besides me left in the locker room. He then put his hand under my left arm and pulled me up. He added, “I’m sure your prayers are already working for Jimmy and his family, Mike. Come on, we’ve got to head out.”

“Thanks, Matt,” I softly said with tears in my eyes as we walked out of the locker room.

“We’ll just have to that trust that the doctors, with God’s help, can take care of Jimmy, now,” Matt said as he turned to lock the inner door to our locker room.

I ducked into the restroom area as Matt exited out into the school hallway. I grabbed a few sheets of toilet paper to blow my nose. After tossing that wad of tissue in the commode, I stood there by myself, and suddenly realized that this tragic accident was a new, major life event, which did not happen in my initial pass-through high school.

“What is going on?” I cried out loud, and then my computing device materialized above the restroom sink area as I saw my sad reflection in the mirror. When I peered down at the computer screen, I saw this, ‘Your life events, as well as the major events in your world, cannot be avoided or altered. However, those around you might experience or undergo new experiences, such as this or with your new band. Remember, you are in an alternate reality and some things will definitely be changed. These changes may have either positive or negative outcomes. Please understand, we aren’t in control of those life events any more than you are. However, we are saddened to learn that a few of your friends are in need of major medical help.’

“But why something as serious as this?” I said to myself in the mirror. “I’m not a good friend with Jimmy, and this didn’t happen before. It shouldn’t have happened now, either.”

In an instant, this new message appeared on the screen, ‘As we learned from your time with us, unexpected events add the flavor to one’s life. That flavor could be sweet. It also could be sour or even noxious. It may even be some combination of various new flavors, which could excite your taste buds beyond belief. Remember, Mike, variety is the spice of life, and you and your friends will have to deal with this wildly flavorful world, accordingly.’

I took a deep breath as I looked in the restroom mirror and slowly let the air out of my lungs. Before I pulled in a new lungful of air, I felt the crackling of the air around me as my computing device vanished. I slowly gave my head a slight negative shake and said, “Damn, I hate it when they use my own words or thoughts against me at times like this.”

I pushed away from the sink, wiped a tear from my eye and headed on out into the side hallway. There were more students mulling around now, and I looked at my watch and saw I had about ten minutes before homeroom was to start, at ten-thirty. I thought, ‘No sense trying to hunt down Paul and the gang. I’ll just head up to my classroom and wait for Lynette to show up.‘

Luckily, nobody asked me about Dennis or Jimmy on my way up to my locker. I accepted a few congratulations along the way for both my basketball performance on Friday, and for our band’s performance at the dance, afterwards.

Right after I grabbed my history books and closed my locker, I heard Lynette call, “Mike, you won’t believe what happened when we told Samantha about asking Jennifer to play saxophone with our band.”

I moved the short distance down to Lynette’s locker and waited for her there. When she saw the sullen look on my face, even after seeing and hearing her bubbly self, Lynette stopped dead in her tracks and softly asked, “What happened? What went on in your locker room?”

I let out a sigh and then whispered, “There was a bad accident Saturday night, and Dennis Grainam and Jimmy Purvis were hurt. Jimmy ... he’s in pretty bad shape. His doctors said that he might not make it.”

“Oh my God,” Lynette softly exclaimed as she moved up and gave me a hug. “What about Dennis? Is he okay?”

“He’s going to be fine. He broke his leg and seriously messed up his knee, but uh, he’ll be okay in the long run. Jimmy, though, if he lives, he’ll be in a wheelchair as Mr. Williamson said he’s paralyzed from his mid-chest on down.”

“Oh, dear God, Mike,” she replied as she rested her head on my chest. “I’m so sorry to hear that. Did you learn anything else about the accident?”

“Not really. Mr. Williamson is going to visit Jimmy and his family after this morning’s announcements. He said he’d keep us informed. He said our practice at five today is optional. I’m not sure what to do about that, now.”

“I don’t know what to tell you on that, Mike. Practicing might give you something to think about besides that accident.” Lynette then took my face in her hands, and captured my attention before she said, “Jennifer told us that she’d love to join our band as our saxophonist. She is also a pretty good guitar player.”

“That’s definitely good to hear,” I replied as Lynette let go of my face and worked on her locker combination. “So you guys came across Jennifer this morning and asked her, huh?”

“Yeah,” Lynette said as she pulled out her Science text and binder. “Guess what? Samantha and Jennifer were together Saturday night, and they worked on two new songs at Sam’s house.”

“Really, did they tell you guys anything about them?”

Lynette grinned and said, “You’re not going to believe this ... but one of the songs Sammy wrote, which Jennifer helped revise the lyrics to, was ... can you guess?”

“Lynette, please,” I replied and gave her an ‘are you kidding me‘ look.

“Oh, alright,” she uttered with that silly, beautiful grin still plastered on her face.

Just before she was about to tell me, we heard, “Mike, Mike,” shouted by Paul as he dodged a few students on his way towards us. When my best friend stopped by us, he hurriedly said, “Sam and Jennifer wrote the lyrics to the song you played in our living room, Sunday afternoon.”

I looked at both Paul and Lynette after hearing my friend’s words and then incredulously asked, “Sam and Jennifer wrote what?”

“They basically had all the lyrics to the song you played,” Lynette excitedly said. “They called it ‘Love Will Keep Us Alive’, which was the exact song you sang in Paul’s living room. Right?”

I raised my eyebrows up at this new piece of information and then said, “Well, I’ll be damned. That was the name of that Eagles’ song. What did you tell Sam and Jennifer about my playing that for you and your parents?”

“Nothing,” both Lynette and Paul replied in unison. Lynette then added, “I’m sure they knew something was up because the three of us all were flabbergasted when we heard Samantha softly sing those lyrics for us.”

“Okay, good,” I said back to Lynette and Paul. “I, we’ll have to decide if we should tell them about what we found out about our ‘new music’. It might be best to simply forget all about it, and then just go with the flow as we come up with new music, new songs.”

“Why keep that from them?” Paul asked.

“Well, I sure wouldn’t want to stifle Samantha’s, Jennifer’s or any of your creativity by telling them or you that some of your new songs or music may well come from the future. That kind of information might put a damper on their or your musical abilities, which I really haven’t enhanced or influenced.”

“I think I understand,” Lynette said. “Even though you may know a song like Sam’s, Alone is from our future, she didn’t have any inkling of that when she wrote it.”

“Precisely,” I replied and then added, “I may have to cause you two, plus Cathy to forget about what we learned over the weekend, so you’ll all be in the dark about any future music or songs. I wouldn’t want any of you to be swayed or influenced by that crazy knowledge should your creative juices bubble out a great song or some awesome new musical sound or rhythm pattern.”

“I guess that would be alright,” Paul said after he took a brief moment to comprehend what I just told them. “But let me get this straight here,” he suddenly added. “You’re not going to influence our abilities to play any of these future songs; just our recollection of that discovery and conversation from Sunday?”

“Correct, my friend.”

“I guess I could live with that, too,” Lynette said with only a touch of concern in her voice. From the look of things with her, I knew I’d have a little more one on one explaining to do on this new course of action.

When we heard, “May I have your attention, please,” come over the PA system, the three of us knew our little musical discussion was over, or at least put on hold with Lynette. Lynette and I watched Paul mouth, ‘Talk with you guys later,’ as Mr. Williamson’s voice said, “Would everyone please head to your homeroom as quickly as possible. The morning announcements will start in two minutes. Thank you.”

I nodded my head at Paul as he turned to walk towards the front hallway and his homeroom class. Lynette called out, “Later, stud,” which caused Paul to turn back to us. He then broke into a big smile and raised his arms above his head as he seemed to approve of Lynette’s short but sweet compliment.

2:30, P.M. Geography class

The rest of the shortened school day passed slowly and uneventfully. The news of Jimmy and Dennis’ accident and their conditions cast a pale over the whole school. I still didn’t know if Mr. Williamson had returned from the hospital. My mind wasn’t really focused on school or learning about Australian government as Mr. St. Georges snapped me out of my funk when he bent down over my shoulder and asked, “Are you going to stay for practice tonight, Mike?”

“Huh? Oh, sorry,” I stumbled out. “Um, I’m not sure if I’m staying, yet. I might see what Jon and Andy are going to do, and go from there.”

“You probably should, if you think about it,” Froggie softly said as he gave my shoulder a gentle squeeze. “You played great on Friday, but should you skip out on practice, it will be four days without a ball in your hands. We all would hate to see any of that momentum you’ve picked up, go by the wayside.”

“He’s probably right, Mike,” Lynette said from her seat next to mine. “Your game tomorrow against Regina Mundi won’t be real challenging, but you have Strathroy on Friday, don’t you?”

“Yeah, I suppose you’re right, Sir. And you, too, Lynette,” I said. After a short pause, I added, “I guess I’ll be there, even if Jon and Andy don’t stay.”

“Wise choice, Mike,” my favorite high school teacher and coach said as he gave a solid whack on my right shoulder. “Lynette, that was good advice, too.”

“Thanks, Mr. St. George,” she replied with a smile.

“Alright class,” Froggie announced, “would you please return your reference books back to where you found them, and you can pack up for the day. And remember, even though most of the ice has melted, please drive extra cautiously if you are out on the roads later today. When the bell sounds, you are dismissed.”

Lynette and I walked to our lockers and I grabbed my English Anthology to read the story Mrs. Pierce assigned for later in the week. When I walked to Lynette’s locker, I took her gym bag in my hands and walked beside her on the way to the girls’ main PE locker room.

“I just thought of something,” she said to me as we neared the back stairwell. “If you didn’t go to B-ball practice, you’d be able to come with all of us to Sam’s house. We’d be able to have our first full rock band practice.” As we danced down to the bottom floor, Lynette then somewhat disgustingly added, “Dang it! Why didn’t I think and say that to you earlier?”

“That might have been a good idea, but I better stick with ball practice now, because I told Froggie I’d be there.”

“I know,” she softly whined before she perked up with, “Running and working up a sweat will be good for you, too. It should help ease your mind a little ... for a couple of hours, at least.”

“Hopefully,” I said as we walked towards the girls’ locker at the back of the school. “I’ll probably come in and watch a little of your practice. Set them pretty, now,” I added as I gave her a small smack on her tight butt. Lynette smiled at my affectionate love tap, and gave me a small kiss on the lips before she darted into her locker room.

As I turned to walk back to the cafeteria, I heard a soft, sweet, “How you doing, Mike?”

Cathy, along with Jennifer, Samantha and a few other girls from the school choir, came walking towards me on their way to the music room. Cathy and Samantha both knew I was down in the dumps over Jimmy and Dennis’ accident from our lunch time conversation.

“I’m ... good, I guess,” I replied as my three band mates veered off from the small female herd and surrounded me by the glass wall of our school’s inner courtyard.

“Thanks again, for thinking of me and asking me to join your band, Mike,” Jennifer said as she gave me a thankful hug. “The five of us had a nice talk this morning, and I’m real excited about playing the saxophone and, uh, some guitar with you guys.”

“You’ll fit in real well with us, I’m sure, Jennifer,” I replied and watched as both Cathy and Samantha nodded in agreement. “I heard you guys are going to head over to Sam’s house after your choir practice, and Lynette’s volleyball practice. Hopefully, you won’t vote me out of the band because I can’t make it tonight.”

“Oh, heavens no,” Cathy replied.

“We definitely need you, and your guitar skills and vocals to make this band work,” Samantha added. “We might get things situated in my guest house’s living room ... where we’ll practice. We may also jam a little, but without your lead guitar work, we definitely won’t have our complete sound.”