KNAC-FM-1972-02-10-Ronny-McCoy.mp3
You had warnings - you had big warnings - you had warnings as big as Portland.
Flunk one more class, you lose your 2-S.
Guidance Counselors are good at straight face and point blank.
Lose your 2-S, you jump to the head of the line - Draft Board calls - Uniform - Marines - boot camp - Vietnam - Body bag.
Flashes across your brain and repeats over and over - You're going to die - you can feel it in your bloodstream.
Finals - you hate this class - Biology. You picked up a book maybe once.
Too much going on - people to meet - places to be - things to do - important things. Biology wasn't one of them.
Big test - two weeks - life depends on it.
You remember a buddy - high school - Dad's a pharmacist. Buddy shows up with a jar full of pills.
"Take two - helps your brain" - Dexamyl - never heard of it, but you're desperate. The books are waiting.
If two work, four must be better - you're one of those "bigger is better" people - you take six just to be safe.
The Old College Try - determination of steel reinforced concrete - open up to Chapter One and dig in.
Fifteen minutes; tingles - twenty minutes; life's not so bad - an hour; you've got this thing aced and you love everyone.
Four hours later you're still on Page One - it's so interesting you forget - you're crazy about this stuff. You're going to take 20 units next semester, even Night School - You're going to work on your Doctorate. Life is amazing. You want to call people, but you can't - you promised - your brain is going to explode - you are perpetually rocking - feet are tapping like a box full of woodpeckers.
You make it to Page Two. You never realized how fascinating Biology was - you've been missing out on life - you're dying of thirst.
You hear birds - the sky is getting lighter - where did Five o'clock come from?
Jaw hurts - you're coming down. No way - gulp four more - school bus at 7.
Sweating buckets, you make it to class. You're so brilliant you can't stand yourself. You are going to get laid this weekend; you know it - you can feel it - you deserve it.
Test hits your desk. You break your pencil three times before you answer the first question. Teeth are grinding - People are looking. Teacher squints.
You finish your Final fifteen minutes early - fifteen minutes before everybody else.
Surprise - you wound up not answering a single question right. Your essay was one runon sentence of total gibberish - even you couldn't read it.
Not only did you get an F - you got a page-size-in-bold-print-red-letter-F.
Color your life over - picture yourself with a shaved head and square jaw.
You're a nervous wreck, but it dawns on you they already had the lottery.
Number 346 - saw it with your own eyes.
You could sleep for a year. You still like school though.
Whether you're cramming for a Final or staring out the window - here's 90 minutes worth of Ron McCoy from KNAC-FM, Long Beach on February 10, 1972.
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