The happiest period of my life was, without a doubt, my 10th grade year in Marina, California. And the happiest part of that year was from about March to June. It took me a long time to understand what made it so good, because there was more than one thing.
The first thing that made that time so happy was that I was experiencing almost complete freedom. I had all the money I needed, which wasn’t a lot in 1976 - comic books, about the only thing I bought for myself - only cost a quarter. I earned money by working at the 7-11 on Reservation Road, owned by Jim and Linda. I also had all of the benefits of being taken care of with almost none of the problems. In other words, I didn’t live with my family and that was another type of freedom. My mom, in an act of awareness and kindness, arranged for me to live with John and Joan Eich (and their son Tommy), so I could finish out the year (and the school play A Date with Judy). For reasons I won’t go into here, it was a huge relief to not have to deal with my parents (especially my mom, despite this kindness) every day. Joan was my mom’s co-worker at The Monterey Herald, and I would babysit their son Tommy. Tommy and I would watch wrestling on TV and then we would pretend we were the wrestlers and then he would happily go to bed and I would happily read some comic books. The house was always cold perhaps because the Eichs wanted to save on their gas and electric bill in the midst of the Energy Crisis. But the Eichs knew and liked me so they were happy to host me for a few months.
When I wasn’t home, I would walk around Marina. Just walk. I would think up comic book stories and just enjoy being free. Sometimes I would walk to Ralph and Diane’s apartment. Diane said I was like a son (though in fact they were only nine years older). But mostly I would just walk around. It was a small town, but there were four different places to buy comic books off the spinner rack (this was before comic-book stores were as available) - the Food Corral, Stop-and-Shop, Rexall’s, and 7-11 - so I always had somewhere to go, but nowhere I had to go.
School was the second reason this was such a happy time. I went to Seaside High School and it was only the third year I stayed in the same school for an entire school year. Every morning I would walk a fair distance to be at the same bus stop as my best friend Rudy. Rudy and I had our last three classes together. We had different math classes for Period 1 and for Period 2, he had Photography and I had Psychology, and for Period 3 I had Science Fiction and I don’t remember what he had. On the second half of the day we shared PE, General Business, and Journalism. After school I went to rehearsals for the school play A Date with Judy. I played the character of the annoying little brother Randolph, complete with a squeaky pre-adolescent voice. (That voice was my own brainstorm and kept me from getting dropped from the cast.) Judy was played by Cindy who was Rudy’s girlfriend. Cindy’s best friend Patty was also in the play.
After rehearsal I’d take the late bus home. I’d take some good-natured teasing from friends about the size of my nose or notice the shape of clouds (one time I was reminded of Jesus breaking the bread) or read whatever book or magazine I had on hand. The bus rides home were fun and the song I associate most with those rides was Still Crazy after All These Years by Paul Simon.
I was free and I had friends. It was a nearly perfect time.
And it had to end. It took me a long time to realize it had to end and the lack of that realization caused me problems for a long time. But it had to end and, thank God, it did.
