Many people don’t know this, but a few years ago I came up with an idea for a novel/biography of the first two years of my college life at Mobile College.  I tentatively titled it ‘Walk on the Ocean’, after a popular Toad the Wet Sprocket song from the same time period.  I’ve decided to post the prologue to the novel here, in an effort to see if there is anyone who thinks I should keep writing.  Let me know what you think.

Prologue

Well I’m a real wild one…wild one…wild one…

“I can’t believe this is the end…I mean, were we not just in Hilton Head, playing putt-putt golf?”

That’s Jennifer McElroy.  She was about 5 foot 7 inches tall, alabaster skin and bright blond hair and a beautiful smile and eyes.  She became my best friend my senior year of high school for about 2 weeks.  We had gotten so close on our way to Hilton Head for our senior trip that many thought we were together…like dating I mean.  But she was dating another guy named Adam and they were pretty serious, and I was dating a girl named Heather, and we both knew that, so it allowed us to flirt and know that nothing was meant by it.  But nobody in our senior class knew that…which was the beautiful part of it all.

Of course, by the time I had gotten to May of 1991, I had pretty much run through everyone at Jefferson Christian Academy as my so-called best friend.  Now as I sat along the rock wall on the small island near the beach in the middle of the lake at Oak Mountain State Park, Jennifer at my side, several of my other classmates swimming in the lake…I realized it was indeed the end of the road.

“Yeah Jen…but remember…we’ve all got plans after graduation.  I mean, you and Adam are together…and we’re all going to stay in touch, you know that.”  I tried to sound reassuring…I think I probably failed miserably.

“I guess you’re right.”  Jennifer looked down at her watch just then.  “Shit, it’s like 3:30 already!  We’ve gotta get to the school by like 5:00 to run through the ceremony with Mr. Grubb.”  Jen stood up on the rock wall and shouted out to the lake.  “Hey Michael!  Dawn!  Mike, it’s time to go!”

Mike Wilson was actually getting out of the water when he said, “What time is it, Jen?”

“It’s already 3:30, guys, Mr. Grubb is going to kill us if we’re late for this thing.”

The rest of the people in the lake got out of the lake slowly and dried off.  Having already dried off myself, I stand up and get my stuff together when Dana Pace, one of my other good friends, comes over to me.  “Real Wild One” from the Pretty Woman soundtrack was playing over the boom-box nearby as he grins from ear to ear.

“Hey Mattie…I have an idea.”

———————————————-

Later that day, I graduated high school.  I have to say, it was, at the time, the highlight of my life.  You see, I was never what anybody would call a great student.  I mean, I got by with what I could get by with…learning things never really was that important to me.  I’ve always been pretty smart, but I have selective learning.  I decide to learn things which I feel are important…things like how many home runs Dale Murphy hit in his last year with the Braves (whatever it is), or how many points did Michael Jordan score in that double overtime playoff loss to the Celtics in his rookie year (63).

I don’t have a problem learning I guess…my biggest problem was retention of things I didn’t feel were important.  Anyway, as I was saying, I graduated high school later that day.  My step-mom cried her eyes out…in fact, now that I think of it, my dad, step-mom and brother all cried their eyes out.  There was a neat little slideshow during the ceremony that showed some highlights of the years growing up in the school.

I had only been attending JCA since my junior year, but I really felt as if I’d been there for years.  But a lot of the 13 people I graduated with went to JCA from kindergarten to graduation, which is a long time in the same school.  So you can imagine it was an emotional moment for some of them.

Walking across the platform of the auditorium to shake Mr. Grubb’s hand as he handed me my diploma is still burned in my brain, his bald head and the comb-over also burned in my brain.  As I returned to my spot in the 2nd row of seats on the left side of the auditorium, I turn slightly to my right where Jennifer was standing.  She whispered, “Open it, Matt…make sure it’s in there.”

Make sure it’s in there?, I thought to myself.  She must’ve seen that look of questioning on my face and she motions with her head down the row to our left.  I look to my left, 2 people down, to see Dana returning to his spot, opening his diploma up, and seeing it empty.  I can see him start to tear up right there; obviously he hadn’t gotten his diploma like the rest of us.  I would learn later that he lacked the grade for one class to graduate with us that night, and that he would take it that summer and get his diploma in July.

So right there, after seeing the look on Dana’s face, I open my leather diploma holder up and there it is…the piece of paper, right along with the pocket-sized version of it, laminated and ready for the wallet.  I had to laugh just then because I really couldn’t think of any instance where I would whip my pocket-sized diploma out to show somebody that didn’t believe me when I said that I graduated high school.

Mike Wilson is the last one in the group to shake Mr. Grubb’s hand and he takes his place among us in the first two rows in the auditorium.  That’s when Mr. Grubb turns to us and says, “Well guys…that’s it.  You’re graduated.  Congratulations, class of 1991.  You may turn your tassels.”

At that moment, the processional music plays and we start to process out of the auditorium in a line.  That’s when, as I reach the back of the room, I spot the boom-box from earlier in the day at Oak Mountain…and I grabbed it and put it in the doorway, and as Dana walks by, he presses “PLAY” on the tape player…

Well I’m a real wild one…wild one…wild one…

I don’t know anybody had ever pulled a stunt like that in a JCA graduation before, but it was the best thing I’d ever pulled off.  That music blared so loud that it drowned out the crappy processional music they’d chosen for us to walk out to.  The rest of the class sprinted out of the auditorium, laughing the whole way and as we ran outside, we threw our caps in the air, screaming loudly as the best night in my life began.

I think I should take the time right now to tell you that you might hear “best (fill in the blank) of my life” several times in this book.  And you might then ask yourself how can something be the best whatever of his life if he keeps having it…well it’s because my senior year of high school leading into the 2 years of college I experienced in Mobile were the three best years of my life, and there was a constant new best experience to top the last one.  I guess I was just lucky that way.

So the best night of my life began shortly after the caps fell down from the sky, raining down on the laughing and smiling graduates of Jefferson Christian Academy in the summer of 1991.

Several times during my senior year, our class of 14 would gather at Jennifer McElroy’s family’s big house in Moody, Alabama for a get-together…a bonfire would normally be involved, as well as several talks and laughter and good times had by all.  And what could be a more appropriate way to end my senior year than one last blowout gathering at Jen’s house.  So after shedding some more tears with my family and other friends, I get in the car and head to Jen’s.

I won’t go into detail here because that really can’t be done.  I remember portions of that night very vividly, and others are just a blur.  I can say one thing for certain:  I have never, at any point in my life, felt happier in my life.  I had just graduated high school, I had nothing but a wonderful future in front of me…I can’t describe the feeling I had.

I will tell you how that night ends…and then my real tale will begin.  I had plans with Dana to go to Atlanta and to Six Flags Over Georgia for a day of fun the next day.  We were going to get an early start to the day.  A couple of our friends, Kenny and Kevin, were going to go with us, but they ended up not being able to go, so it was just Dana and I.  So the next morning, at Jen’s, I wake up around 7:00 a.m., tired but energized.  I walk downstairs from the room I had slept in, still dressed in my graduation outfit (a white button-down dress shirt, sleeves rolled up slightly askew, khaki pants, brown shoes, brown belt, blue tie, undone of course).  Jen was in the kitchen, fixing some coffee.  In the living room just a ways away, Dawn, Tracey and Amy were sitting watching TV, looking sleepy.  I grinned at Jen as I took a look into the room.  Not even thinking about it, I start for the door, and that’s when Jen calls out to me.

“Wait, Matt!  I may never see you again!”

I stopped dead in the doorway…and looked back.  Her cry got Dawn and the rest in the living room stirred up, and all four of them make their way towards me, arms outstretched in a big hug.  I hugged each of them tightly, as they start to cry.  I won’t lie…at that moment, I could’ve said “I love you” to each one of them and meant it with every fiber of my being.

After hugging them and wiping the tears away, I start for the door again and I say, “We’ll see each other again, Jen…don’t worry.”

Little did I know that I was wrong.