Memorizing You
Authors: Dan Skinner
Memorizing You
Dan Skinner
COPYRIGHT
Memorizing You is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2013 by Dan Skinner
Cover photograph by DWS Photography
Cover Art by Dan Skinner
Edited by Jae Ashley
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-937252-55-7
Published by Cerberus, Inc.
Warning: All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any many without written permission, except for brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to five years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000. eBooks are not transferable. They cannot be sold, shared or given away as it is an infringement on the copyright of this book.
Contact the publisher for further information:
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND TRADEMARKS
A special thank you to Jae Ashley for all her help. And to Laura Harner: thank you for all your help and friendship.
and handholding
and hankie passing
and such…
over one hundred degreesri“1
The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following trademarks mentioned in this work of fiction:
7-Up: Dr Pepper/Seven Up, Inc.
Ace Bandage: 3M Corporation
AMC Hornet: Chrysler Group LLC
Anheuser-Busch: Anheuser-Busch, Incorporated
Aquaman: DC Comics, Time Warner Entertainment, L.P. and E.C. Publication, Inc. Partnership
Bambi: Disney Enterprises, Inc.
Batman (including Bruce Wayne and Robin): DC Comics Partnership
Bazooka: Topps Company, Inc.
Beatles: Apple Corps, Limited
Bonomo’s Turkish Taffy: Bonomo Turkish Taffy, LLC
Bud: Anheuser-Busch, Incorporated
Buick: General Motors LLC
Cadillac: General Motors LLC
Candyland: Hasbro, Inc.
Cheshire Cat: Disney Enterprises, Inc.
Chesterfields (cigarettes): Trademarks, LLC
Chevrolet: General Motors, LLC
Sunshine SupermanChocola: Pamela Simon Vintage, Inc.
Cinderella: Disney Enterprises, Inc.
Coke: The Coca-Cola Company
Converse: Converse Inc.
Cosmo (Cosmopolitan Magazine): Hearst Communications, Inc.
Courtesy Diner: Restaurants Unlimited, Inc.
Creeple Peeple: Toymax, Inc.
Dallas Cowboys: Dallas Cowboys Football Club , Ltd.
Dial: Pure & Natural Company
Dr. Pepper: Dr Pepper/Seven Up, Inc.
Dracula: Universal Studios, Inc.
Etch A Sketch: The Ohio Art Company
Firestone: Bridgestone Brands, LLC
Fizzies: Amerilab Technologies, Incorporated
Flintstones (Fred, Wilma, Pebbles, Bam-Bam): Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc.
Foghorn Leghorn: Time Warner Entertainment, L.P.
Ford Fairlane: Ford Motor Company
Frankenstein: Universal City Studios, LLC
Gold Coast Ice Cream: Gold Coast Ice Cream Truck Company every square Imy
Gone with the Wind: Turner Entertainment Company
Goodwill: Goodwill Industries International, Inc.
Grape-Nuts: Kraft Foods Holdings, Inc.
Harlequin: Harlequin Enterprises
Harvard: President and Fellows of Harvard College Charitable Corporation
Hawaiian Punch: Dr Pepper/Seven Up, Inc.
Hershey’s: Hershey Chocolate & Confectionary Corporation
Hydrox: Kellogg North America Company
Ivory: Proctor & Gamble Co.
J.C. Penney: J.C. Penney Corporation, Inc.
Jell-O: Kraft Foods Group Brands LLC
KMart: Sears Brand, LLC
Keds: SR Holdings, LLC
Kodak: Eastman Kodak Company
Kool-Aid: Kraft Foods Group Brands LLC
Lincoln: Ford Motor Company
Looney Tunes: Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc
Lucky Strike: Reynolds Innovations Inc.
Marlon Brando: Brando Enterprises, L.P. in agreement. Marvel: Marvel Characters, Inc.
Maxwell House: Kraft Foods Group Brands LLC
Mixmaster: Sunbeam Corporation:
Mizzou: Curators of the University of Missouri
Mrs. Butterworth’s: Pinnacle Food Groups, LLC
Noxema: Alberto-Culver USA, Inc.
Old Vienna: Old Vienna, LLC
Olympics: United States Olympic Committee
Pall Mall: Reynolds Innovations Inc.
Playboy: Playboy Enterprises International, Inc.
Plymouth: Chrysler Group LLC
Polaroid: Polaroid Corporation
Post-Dispatch: Pulitzer Inc.
QT: Plough, Inc.
R2-D2: Lucasfilm Ltd.
Road Runner: Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
Rold Gold: Frito-Lay North America, Inc.
Rolling Stones: Musidor B.V. LLC
Schwinn: Pacific Direct, LLC that was twice the size00d
Sleeping Beauty: Disney Enterprises, Inc.
Snow White: Disline-height:1ney Enterprises, Inc.
Spam: Hormel Foods, LLC
Spiegel: Spiegel, LLC
Speedo: Speedo International
Spider-man: Marvel Characters, Inc.
Star Wars: Lucasfilm Entertainment Company Ltd.
Steak N Shake: Steak N Shake, LLC
Styrofoam: The Dow Chemical Company
Super Bowl: National Football League Unincorporated Association
Superman (and Clark Kent): DC Comics General Partnership
Tang: Intercontinental Great Brands, LLC
Ted Drewes: Ted Drewes, Inc.
Teem: Pepsico, Inc.
The Carol Burnett Show: Whacko, Inc.
The Incredible Hulk: Marvel Characters, Inc.
Thom McAn: Sears Brands, LLC
Three Stooges: C3 Entertainment, Inc.
Timex: Timex Group was nothing in comparisonI my USA, Inc.
Tinkerbell: Disney Enterprises, Inc.
Toll House: Societe Des Produits Nestle S.A.
Twentieth-Century Fox: Twentieth-Century Fox Film Corporation
Twinkies: Hostess Brands, Inc.
Velvet Freeze: Abagee Enterprises, Inc.
Welch’s: Welch Foods Inc.
Whitman’s: Whitman’s Candies, Inc.
Wonder Woman: DC Comics, Inc.
Woolworth: Venator Group Specialty, Inc.
Wranglers: Wrangler Apparel Corp.
Yellow Pages: AT&T Intellectual Property Marketing, Inc.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgement and Trademarks
Prologue
Sunshine Superman
Chapter One
Chapter Two
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Chapter Three
Chapter Twelve and Four Quarters
Chapter Twenty-six
appearancey fes
PROLOGUE
I’m David.
This is my story. It’s true. Every word. I can’t imagine trying to embellish it, make it different; better. Just the actual stuff of real people. It’s how I came to love. My first love. The memory of great love.
The mental images returned with the rustle of saved scraps of paper and a black and white photograph, slightly faded, fluttering out of a forgotten album cover, pulling me back to that time like thumbing through t was nothing in comparisonreGmhe pages of dusty scrapbook.
I grew up in a different time. An era when cars were still made of steel and had real style. Not like the cars today that I really can’t tell which one is which. Back then, you could instantly spot a Plymouth, a Ford or a Chevrolet. I remember big box televisions that were black and white, and when we, as kids, rode bikes with cards clipped to our spokes with clothespins, pretending to be Steve McQueen. Innocent times. And no one was more innocent than me. In every way.
Prior to the summer of ‘67, I knew nothing of physical longings. Even though I heard my grade school mates make declarations of having girlfriends. Dating. I looked at it, like from some great distance, as a game of pretend because I had none of those inclinations. I saw their hand-holding and awkward kisses behind trees in the park and paid it no great mind. It was foreign to me. Nothing that had crossed the path of my instincts.
When I see the old black and white pictures of myself back then, I’m struck by how fresh-faced, full-cheeked and pure I looked. My eyes were wide, held no secrets. I can even laugh at the snapshots of me in my prized sweatshirts bearing portraits of Marvel superheroes, Aquaman and The Hulk.
I remember how cool I felt I looked wearing those with my first striped pair of hip-huggers. I had brown suede cowboy boots. I actually thought this gave me “personality.” The strange thing is, that as important as I remember them being to me now, without the photos they’d have surely been forgotten in the vapors of time. Things like that just slip away from us.
I’ve heard that, before we die, they’ll flash before our eyes again. But for the time being, we can thank Kodak and Polaroid.
1967. It would be the year of two poignant discoveries for me. My sexual awakening. And that I was different because of that.
Being able to look back on those days with a forty-odd year hindsight, the memories come back bathed in a golden glow like from a romance film with music by Ennio Morricone. I’ve colored them like that over the years, like a painting in progress.
CHAPTER ONE
in agreement. The magnificent “event” that changed everything began with a hand. The simple sight of a hand. To this day I can’t forget the exquisite beauty of that hand. Like a Michelangelo painting. It held a number two yellow pencil over a spiral notebook filled with almost perfect writing. The other hand traced words over a seventh grade American History book. I remember the olive-skinned hand now as if it’s bathed in luminous sunlight, even though I knew it couldn’t have been since the windows were to the back of the classroom.
But that hand mesmerized me. Made me look at my own and wonder why it wasn’t as perfect. I studied those flawless fingers diligently holding the pencil, the way it moved across the paper. And it seemed to me, at that moment, there was nothing on earth that had greater beauty.
And it was then I noticed something completely different in me. Some kind of sensation of longing and need. I felt instantly hot all over, sensed droplets of sweat in my hairline. They trickled to my collar with each heavy drumbeat of my heart. My mouth went dry. I wondered,
“What is this? What is this feeling? What is this fascination?”
I’ve no clue how long I sat hypnotized. I just remember the spell was broken when he turned to look at me with those bright brown eyes…and smiled. The smile that changed everything. The smile that I can remember more than forty years later with concise clarity.
Forgive me for my sappiness, but it’s the only means I have to convey the molecular destruction I experienced caught in the vision of his smile. I felt myself vanish in it. When I returned from it, I would be someone entirely transformed. It was then I understood the meaning of hand-holding and the kissing behind trees.