It was now Friday night, June 11th, 1971.
The stands of the football stadium at the high school were filled with family and friends of the one hundred and eight-five seniors. It was a beautiful night for a ceremony for a huge milestone in the lives of these young people. It was finally graduation night.
It was a tearful ceremony for most of the mothers to watch their babies move into adulthood.
The ceremony was over, and now everybody mingled to congratulate the seniors.
Sheryl had her picture taken with her parents and aunt.
Over by Darin and his parents, Henry looked at a stranger standing near them. “Sir, could you take our picture,” he said to a stranger.
“My pleasure,” said the stranger.
Henry handed the stranger his Kodak Instamatic camera.
Henry stood by Darin’s left side, and June stood by his right side.
When they were ready, the stranger snapped the picture of Darin, June, and Henry. The stranger handed the camera back to Henry.
“Thank you,” said Henry.
The stranger nodded, smiled, and walked away.
Thirty-six-year-old Jimmy Newton walked up to Darin.
Jimmy had been Darin’s history teacher during his senior year. Jimmy had a huge interest in the Revolutionary War and the 1776 era.
“Congratulations, Darin. You finally made it,” said Jimmy extending out his hand.
“Thank you, Mister Newton,” said Darin shaking his hand.
“Please, call me Jimmy for now on. Now listen, after you get your bachelor’s degree in history, come talk to me. I have an old college buddy, Doctor Ervin Bowman, and he’s a Physics professor at the university. I told him about you. And I think he can help land you a teaching position there. They could use an excellent professor of history,” said Jimmy.
June and Henry looked proud of Darin.
“Thanks!” said Darin and really wanted to teach history at a university.
“No problem. Stay in touch,” said Professor Newton then he patted Darin on his left shoulder then walked away.
Jimmy stopped and turned around and looked back at Darin. “Ervin just started on a special project that is right up your alley. I mean with your knowledge of history. You’ll love it if he gets it working.”
“What’s that?” Darin curiously asked.
“You’ll have to wait,” said Jimmy with a smile and a wink, then he walked away.
Darin was curious by Jimmy’s comment while he watched him walk away, but the sound of someone approaching took his thoughts on that away.
Sheryl and her parents Harriet and John Watson walked over to Darin and his parents.
“Congratulations Sheryl,” said June then gave her a hug.
“Thank you,” said Sheryl.
“Hello, Mayor,” said Henry then shook John’s hand.
Darin and Sheryl held hands while their parents stood around and chatted about how proud they were that their kids graduated from high school.
After all the picture taking was done, the graduates were ready to leave. They had to change out of their Sunday best clothes and gowns and back into bell bottoms, tee shirts, and sneakers. They had somewhere important to be tonight. They wanted to celebrate hard tonight.
Lake Willow was the regular hangout for the teens of Burkeville to party on Friday and Saturday night. It was the spot for partying with booze and pot, and also for doing the nasty in cars or in the woods. Most of the other kids didn’t arrive at the lake until the sun was way past the horizon. They liked it when it was dark, as it provided privacy.
It was nine that night, and the vast majority of the seniors from Darin’s class were at the lake.
Across Primrose Avenue at the A&P parking lot, Officer Billy White parked his squad car so he could observe the kids entering and leaving the dirt road to the lake. The police knew that the graduating class had a party down at the lake and they knew there would be beer. But it was a tradition, and even Officer White partied there when he graduated from high school twenty years ago.
He often parked in the A&P lot at night because he heard rumors of guys who would come to the lake to perform men on men sex in the woods. But he hadn’t been able to catch them in the act. But tonight he was just there to make sure none of the kids drove away too drunk. So he sat in his car with his Thermos of hot coffee and watched the kids.
Darin drove his Bel-Air down Primrose Avenue with Sheryl sitting by his side.
He, like many other fellow students, had to park on the shoulder of Primrose, as the parking area at the lake was packed tonight.
They got out of the car and walked holding hands off to the lake with other fellow graduates.
Once Darin and Sheryl got to the sandy area of the lake, they noticed a bonfire was already lit and provided enough light.
Parked in the lot with ten other cars was Robbie Hanson’s Camaro. Darin saw it and cringed, as he prayed Robbie wouldn’t show up tonight. But he knew better and decided he had to accept the fact he runs into him later tonight.
The vast majority of the students were already drinking beer from the three kegs of Rolling Rock beer. One of the older brothers of a graduating senior bought the beer for the party.
Darin and Sheryl started to mingle with some of their former students close to the beer keg.
While they mingled, Darin kept a watchful eye out for Robbie to make sure they wouldn’t come over to torment him for old times sake.
Darin and Sheryl accepted a beer from Charles and Kenny.
“So, what are your plans, Charles and Kenny?” asked Sheryl.
“I’m going to head out to California for about a month. I’ve always wanted to see the Pacific Ocean,” said Charles.
“I’m going to tag along then after we get back home, I plan on getting jobs at the plant,” said Kenny.
“When are you going out west?” said Sheryl.
“Right after we get back from Ocean City,” said Charles.
“We’ll be going from coast to coast. It’s going to be a blast,” said Kenny.
“Also after we get back, I plan on joining the Marines,” said Charles.
Sheryl glanced over at Darin. You could tell it in their eyes that Charles joining the Marines was not a good idea. But Charles had been talking about this for the past year. So they knew they couldn’t change his mind.
Fellow classmate Marty Worsley walked up to Darin.
“Hey Darin,” said Marty while he went up to the keg and got a beer.
Another classmate Jimmy Murphy walked up to the keg right after Marty got his beer and was drinking it. “Hey Marty,” said Jimmy while he filled his cup. “When are you leaving for the Air Force?”
“In two weeks,” said Marty and took another drink of beer.
Jimmy got a discreet smirk on his face. “Are you ready for that special shot they give you in basic training?”
“What special shot?” said Marty.
Darin and Sheryl got curious about this particular shot.
“My older brother has been in the Air Force for three years now. He told me that in basic training, around the nineteenth day, the Air Force doctors give you a shot in your left nut.”
Marty looked unsure of Jimmy’s comment. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about the Air Force doctors will give you a shot in your left nut, and they use a square needle,” said Jimmy and he looked dead serious.
Darin cringed at that thought of having a shot in that sensitive area. Sheryl thought that was horrible.
“Man, I’m glad I’m not going in the military,” said Darin.
“I’ll keep you in school so they can’t have you,” said Sheryl.
Marty was worried. “Why? Why would they do that?”
“It’s so that when you’re in basic, you won’t get horny and jerk off at night in your bunk in the barracks,” said Jimmy. “My older brother Randy told me this the other day when I told him you enlisted,” said Jimmy and he still looked dead serious.
“Yeah, my cousin said they did that to him when he went through Army basic,” added Josh Burns he and another classmate looked dead serious.
Marty got exceedingly nervous about going through Air Force basic training and felt he made a huge mistake enlisting.
“Well, good luck, Marty. I heard the extreme pain in your nut only lasts a few minutes,” said Jimmy, and he walked away with a discreet smirk.
Marty looked at Darin and Sheryl. “I don’t want a shot down there,” he said.
“Well, you joined the Air Force instead of going to college,” said Darin and motioned at Sheryl that they would walk away.
Darin and Sheryl walked away, holding hands.
“You know, I don’t think any doctor has a square needle,” she said.
“I don’t know. The Air Force could,” said Darin while they walked over to some other classmates.
Sheryl rolled her eyes that Darin was that gullible.
Marty stayed at the beer keg and started to worry himself about this potential shot. That’s what filled his mind at the moment.
Way off in the background, Jimmy stared at Marty and chuckled. He walked away and chatted with some other classmates.
An hour had passed.
After his third beer, Darin slipped into the woods to relieve himself of beer.
Sheryl waited nearby the woods.
Off in the background, Robbie, Mickey, Bobbie, Herschel, Denny, and Frank spotted Sheryl alone. His buddies motioned to Robbie that Sheryl was all alone.
In the woods, Darin found a safe spot out of view. He unzipped his blue jeans and whipped it out. It felt so good to get rid of all that beer into the dirt and dead leaves.
He was almost finished when he heard footsteps behind him. He shook it a few times then shoved it back in his jeans.
“Don’t put it away,” said Tiffany while she walked up to Darin.
Darin quickly zipped up his jeans turned around and saw Tiffany. She had a cup of beer in her left hand and swayed with a Marlboro dangling out of her mouth. “Oh, hi Tiffany,” he said and knew she was drunk again.
Tiffany walked up to Darin. They stared at each other for a few seconds. Tiffany looked around and saw nobody was within sight. She dropped her Marlboro in the dirt then gave Darin a horny grin. She reached out and cupped his crotch with her right hand. “Come on, Darin. I’ve wanted this for a long time,” she said while groping his crotch.
Darin was a little buzzed from his beer and accepted her groping for a few seconds. He started to get an erection and Tiffany smile. “That’s what I want,” she said when she felt he was getting hard. He reached up and tried to find his zipper.
Darin snapped to reality and shoved her hand away. “I’m sorry Tiffany, but I’m engaged to Sheryl,” he said then rushed away.
Tiffany turned around and was disappointed while she watched Darin rush back to the lake. “I’ll have him fucking me one day,” she said and looked determined while she took another drink of her beer.
Darin walked through the woods.
“Stop!” cried out, Sheryl.
Darin stopped, as he knew that voice.
“I said, stop!” she cried out a little louder.
Darin had a hunch something was wrong, so he rushed in the direction of Sheryl’s voice.
He stopped by a tree and saw Robbie had Sheryl’s back pressed up against the trunk of a tree. Robbie had his right hand up inside her tee-shirt, fondling her bra.
“STOP ROBBIE!” she screamed.
“Come on, Sheryl, you know you’ve wanted me for years. You know I’m more of a man that that pussy, Darin,” said Robbie then he forced his lips against her for a kiss.
“STOP!” Sheryl gave out a muffled yell with Robbie’s mouth all over her mouth.
“SHE SAID, STOP!” yelled out Darin without thinking of the consequences.
Robbie pulled his head away from Sheryl’s mouth and saw Darin ten feet away. He got a smirk on his face then removed his hand out from under Sheryl’s tee shirt and charged over to Darin with clenched fists.
Darin swallowed hard when he saw Robbie charging after him like a pissed off bull. Darin got visibly nervous. He felt faint. When Robbie got within three feet of Darin, Darin’s eyes crossed. He fainted and dropped to the dirt.
Robbie towered over Darin’s limp body in the dirt. “The pussy passed out again,” he said then laughed.
“YOU’RE A FUCKING ASSHOLE, ROBBIE!” Sheryl yelled out at the top of her lungs.
Robbie turned around and looked back at Sheryl. He figured he would go back and really have his way with her.
“She said stop,” called out a male voice from the woods.
Robbie looked to his left and saw about thirty of his former classmates in the woods, including Charles, and Kenny. “Hey, I’m just funning around. No harm. I’m just messing around,” he said then glared back at Sheryl with vengeful eyes.
He walked away to where Mickey, Bobbie, Herschel, Denny, and Frank were amongst the crowd.
Sheryl rushed over to Darin, as did Charles and Kenny.
Darin’s eyes opened, and he felt relieved when he realized Sheryl, Charles and Kenny were by his side and not Robbie. Darin got up and was embarrassed.
“Let’s get out of here,” said Sheryl, as Robbie ruined her mood to party.
Darin nodded in agreement, so he and Sheryl walked away through the woods and headed to the dirt road.
Charles and Kenny followed.
“Tiffany! Get over here,” they heard Robbie called out from the woods and knew what would happen next.
Darin and Sheryl got back to his Bel-Air on Primrose Avenue.
Darin was still embarrassed for passing out while he got behind the wheel.
Sheryl sat by his side while he pulled his Bel-Air on Primrose and headed down the road.
It was a quiet ride back home.
It was now eight on Saturday night, and Darin forgot all about last night’s encounter with Robbie.
Darin and Sheryl drove over to Lake Willow to watch the sunset. He parked his Bel-Air near the wooden benches.
This was a usual event for them during the past two summers. The lake was a great place to view the sunset, as the view to the west had hills off on the horizon.
Darin had his radio on in the car, and they listened to the WFIL radio station. The Samba Pa Ti song by Santana played on the radio. This instrumental really added to the moment while Darin and Sheryl sat on a wooden bench and watched the beautiful orange and purple sky.
“I wish you could go with us to Ocean City,” he said.
“I know, but Aunt Gertie came all the way from Beaver Falls for my graduation. She’s staying the week and will leave next Saturday. Mom wants me to stay since I haven’t seen her in three years. And besides, I’ll be working also to save up some extra cash for college.”
“I should stay here and be with you. I don’t want Robbie trying to attack you.”
“No, Darin. Go and have some fun with Charles and Kenny. You’ll be working at Jake’s for the rest of the summer after you get back. You’ll need to party a little. Besides, Charles and Kenny will start their new lives and will leave Burkeville soon. And I don’t think Robbie will try that again. After all, he’ll probably be in Ocean City.”
Darin thought about what she said and wasn’t looking forward to seeing Robbie at the beach. He hated his dishwasher job at Jake’s Country Diner and knew a week off would be sweet. And Sheryl also hated being a waitress at the diner. But they both needed the money.
“Plus we can head down to North Chestwood to watch the fireworks on 4July 4th,” said Sheryl.
Darin smiled as he loved seeing fireworks with Sheryl. He placed his arm around Sheryl’s shoulder. “I can’t wait until we’re married.”
“Me too.”
“I know we’re going to have a great life together.”
“We will,” said Sheryl, then she placed her head on Darin’s shoulder.
While they watched the sun disappear below the horizon, they didn’t notice peering eyes spying on them from the woods.