Smoke On The Water

Well, so far we've covered that I was a shy little boy who was overweight and cursed with a love
for reading. I was usually the class clown but never taken seriously. I would try all kinds of things
in order to fit in but never really accomplished it. I was surrounded by people but always felt alone.
I would rather read my Social Studies and daydream about ancient Greece or the pyramids in Egypt
as opposed to running around the neighborhood. I did like campfires and going out to my great-aunt
Maxine's house on the Kerr Lock&Dam so I could wade out in the water and swim. I was more
interested in exploring then playing sports but I did it anyways. I liked riding horses and being around animals too. I just felt at home anytime I was outdoors and around nature. For as long as I
can remember, I've always had dreams about rain, snow, thunder, and lightning. I would always be
by streams of water and sometimes there'd even be dragons. I had other dreams, of course, but
these themes were always reoccuring. Being half Norwegian, storms were in my blood and even
my dreams in seemed.

Fast forward to where we left off in the story. Now, I was skinny and popular. I didn't studder anymore and I could out talk just about anyone in a debate thanks to Mr. Fentriss. I even had a girlfriend even though, admittedly, I did not really know what that was. It was a label or a title that I wanted. I think I just wanted to be called someone's boyfriend. I didn't even know what one was supposed to do. But, here I was as one and heading off to college as well as she. Jesse told me that he gave my sister a promise ring while they were still dating so I took it upon myself to pick one out for Jennifer and surprised her while driving through the drive-thru window at the pharmacy. I remember saying something about needing a perscription filled...of a different kind. She loved it and so did the other ladies working with her. The plan was that we would both finish college and I'd be a clinical
Psychologist/preacher and she'd be a Music major. Then, we'd get married. In the meantime, we'd
email and talk on the phone between visits home and everything seemed well planned out.

I remember what I dreamt the morning of September 11, 2001, like it was yesterday. I remember
seeing fire and hearing screams and then I woke up and went downstairs. Laney was standing at
the foot of the stairs. She was holding a toy airplane and looked up at me and said, "Unca Cis,
plane go boom. Plane go boom." I smiled and patted her on the head and thought how cute it was the
crazy things kids say....and then I walked around the corner and watched the second plane hit the
World Trade Center. I stood there and just watched in silence with my mom and niece. I was
still watching shortly after when they fell down and we got reports of the Pentagon being hit and
another plane crashing in a field. The next few hours, I had to take all of the vehicles out to fill
up the tanks with gas and witnessed people throwing rocks at the places for rising the price of
gas while everyone was waiting in line to fill up. The world definitely changed at lot and you knew
that it would never be the same. It should have taught me the results of hate like that going
unchecked for so long. This is what hate can do. It just causes more hate and resentment. I should
have learned that then but that was soon to come.

Jennifer seemed a little more distant in our conversations and hinted that I didn't call her enough
and things just seemed to be changing. I felt that I needed to surprise her and be romantic so I
drove up to Tulsa (where she was going to Oral Roberts), bought some Lady Godiva's chocolate
at the Woodland Hills mall, and went on down to her campus dorms and introduced myself to
the desk. They said excellent and I could probably just go right on up. So, I did. I knocked and
said it was me and, after what seemed like an eternity, she opened the door and wasn't alone. She
had apparently found a new guy friend except he wasn't just a friend. I looked over on the dresser and
there was my class ring (the stuff she had to put on it to wear it due to her finger being so small had
been removed) and now she just wanted to be friends. I took the chocolates, and the ring then left
without saying a word. Her father later made a jape at me during a Bible study class about how
Jennifer had maybe made at least one mistake as he laughed it off. I got up, grabbed my things,
and walked out. The next time I would step inside a church was when they were having my
grandfather's funeral seven years later.

-Thork