KPPC-Nevada-Susan-Carter-_-Les-Carter-1971-09-06.mp3
Couldn't wait for Summer to start - Had the whole thing planned out - Beach - Parties - Beach - road trip - More Beach - maybe love - Beach.
And then you woke up - it became September - worse; it became Monday - even worse; it became six in the morning - worst of all, it's become School.
Forgot how it all went - the procedure - toilet - shower - dress - breakfast - wait for bus - Blue Number 18. Groans to a halt in front of your house - drops you off in front of school. You remember now.
Familiar faces trudge on - looking like one big dental appointment.
Look out the window - people going to work. Smell cigarette smoke - back of the bus - driver gives death stare in rear-view mirror. Window in the back quietly slides open. Freezing out - where went Summer?
Somebody two rows in front is happy - chatty and waving arms and hands - not you - your tan is fading - your memories aren't. Exchanged a lot of phone numbers - made a lot of promises. You're getting your license this year - Plymouth Barracuda with your name on it; Canary Yellow with a Black roof. Hope it's still there in December. Dad promised - you have the part-time job at Daylight to prove it. Bagging groceries on the weekends - buck and a quarter an hour.
First period - you blocked it out of your mind - English? No - Math? No. Gym? Shit! Five laps and burpees and somebody's idea of volleyball - on top of scrambled eggs - maybe you'll throw up. You want a cigarette - you want coffee - coffee and a cigarette - newspaper and listening to KPPC - those were fun days. Can't wait till adult.
Next holiday is November - eternity - you could be dead by then - world could end - knowing you, still running laps - you hope you get classes where somebody cute sits next to you. Been a sea of ugly/stinky since fifth grade - your luck has to change - you're buying book covers this semester - even though you'll be up to your eyeballs in paper bags you don't want them covering your books - for a change. School emblem - go team.
Gets noisy as the bus inches to school. Comes to a stop and the clamor to empty gets started.
Last to get off - bus driver looks into rear view mirror. Glances at you - says "good luck". You crack a nervous smile.
He knows something. He can tell.
What a squeaky clean school it is, staring you in the face. Reality is such a pisser.
And serenading your life on this day in 1971 is none other than The Carters on KPPC.
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