Completely in the Dark

My locker opened on the first try.

Like a portent of the school year ahead—my junior year in high school—something as simple as opening your new locker on the first day of school seemed like a good omen.

But at Mound-Westonka high school, it was pure chaos.

Greeted friends I hadn’t seen all summer, and then went through the lineup of new classes: homeroom in the Home Ec department, Geometry, German, Western Civilization, and Chemistry.

But the most exciting thing about the day was getting home in time to call Linda. I’d asked her to the State Fair the following night. To my utter surprise, she said she’d go. So, that first Friday back at school, I was obviously distracted and anxious about our date.

It was something new for us, without other friends around—a real “date” date.

Before our family (Mom, Dad, my brother Brian and his neighborhood…