Return To Forever

Return to Forever
©2014 Jim Frishkey

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or information and retrieval systems without written permission of the publisher.

eBook design: Michael Campbell at
MCWriting.com
Cover design: Casey Cronan

Return to
Forever

JIM FRISHKEY

To Gladys L. Masuch, for tolerating my mediocrity as a student and inspiring my long dormant potential as a creative writer.
 
To the Franklin High Class of 1964. We were the first of the baby boomers that sailed the unchartered waters of a new clarity of thought, questioning the wrongs and exalting the rights of a changing society. Sometimes we even got it right in spite of ourselves. I love you all.

PROLOGUE

Some day you will find me.

I haven’t gone too far.

I miss the way we were back then…

How we laughed.

I can feel you in my heart.

There’s a world in your eyes,

I can see it getting brighter,

All the hours that we turned into days.

We were young,

Seemed like life would go on,

Last forever.

All I had was you by my side.

M
OSTAR
D
IVING
C
LUB

CHAPTER 1

Summer – 1963

J
oey Fedorsio’s father walked a fine line between major prick and stalwart male role model. Joey was an only child but his father, an orphan, made sure Joey would know the merits of hard labor…even at 15 which was when he started work in the local Food Giant for $.75 an hour.

Joey was a bright, almost brilliant student when he chose to be. He was a natural artist and draftsman and was offered scholarships to the Art Institute and later the prestigious Wilson Academy. Both of these opportunities had to take a back seat to the family’s penchant for moving every two years until they finally had enough money for a down payment on their first home in 1962. At last Joey would be able to develop friendships that would take root.

The township where their home was being built had a modest tax base and, as a result, kids ready for Junior High and High School had to migrate to nearby Lansdale, a growing community with a new high school due to open in the fall. Joey would be a member of its first graduating class.

Joey was also a natural athlete, playing organized baseball every summer and pickup football and hockey games in the fall and winter. One of his goals was to try out for the varsity baseball team but juggling work and study time made this virtually impossible. His baseball future would be relegated to sandlot games after school when he wasn’t working.

The Food Giant was very close to where the new high school was being built but far enough from home that Joey’s mom had to drive him and pick him up…until he got his permit! Mom’s 1957 Chevy 210 was his to use for work when allowed and eventually became his project to convert from 4 door sedan to street rod of distinction. Every spare dime went into the J.C. Whitney catalog…seat covers, baby moons, cut outs and whatever else he could find that would release the “beast” hiding in that 283 Power Glide grandma car.

By summers end the red and white Chevy looked and sounded like a rocket ship…but ran like the slow tortoise it really was. The transformation was dramatic and his persona changed the minute he got behind the wheel. The nerdy grocery store bag boy became Brando in the “Wild One”. Joey would back the Chevy into the street and, at the end of the block, climb under the car with a monkey wrench to remove the cap from his cut-out. The roar was almost deafening and gave Joey an instant hard-on.

Rumbling to and from work with the occasional detour through the local drive-in burger joint, Joey was often the target for a drag race with an opponent who was driving a car with real speed…not the faux muscle Joey was driving. These confrontations usually ended with Joey watching the other guy pull away or simply declining the challenge with a laugh, feigning disinterest.

The Food Giant became Joey’s home away from home. As time went on his hours increased as did his job responsibility. From bagger to stock boy to stock boy/cashier, he earned a reputation of reliability and budding leadership among his co-workers, one of whom was Johnny Vincent in the produce department.

Johnny was also a classmate and lived within a long walk from Joey’s house. His mom was the prototypical Italian home maker who could whip up a delicious meal from scratch in minutes. His family and Joey’s became good friends and the boys and their fathers often played golf together at the local public nine hole course. As is often the case, good friends can become intense competitors and the two boys were always trying to get a leg up be it sports, work, cars or girls.

Johnny was clearly the better athlete and his long and lanky looks appealed to the girls more than Joey’s glasses and exploding acne. Joey, on the other hand, was a superior student and his years in Catholic school put him ahead of his sophomore classmates in almost every subject. As a result, he had friends on every side of the spectrum…nerds, jocks, and greasers.

Phil Sherman was the all-American nice guy. He was enrolled in Advance Placement English, Math, and Science and destined to receive an appointment to Annapolis if he could excel at just one varsity sport…wrestling. His father was a Navy vet with contacts at the academy and he leaned hard on Phil to get the grades necessary to be selected. To do so also required the sponsorship of a political big shit, like Congressman, Senator, Mayor or the like and when that time came, Phil was confident he could attract just such a heavyweight.

Joey first met Phil in Latin class and an immediate friendship was formed. They both had skills in creative writing that served them well in the legendary Gladys Mason’s A.P. English class. She was an aging spinster who inspired her students to tackle the loftiest literature with zeal and creativity. She knew Joey had the ability but lacked the work ethic but she liked him and cut him more slack than he deserved. Late assignments were the norm but she gave the content more weight than meeting the deadline and the C minus became the bedrock of Joey’s scholastic achievements.

Larry Knoblauch was the total opposite of Phil and the fuse that detonated the bad boy in Joey. He was a co-op student, earning credit towards graduation by working full-time and attending only those classes required to meet the minimum for graduation. He also worked at Food Giant but at a different store in the meat department. He had a different circle of friends outside of high school and Joey was welcomed into that group of shit-stirrers.

And so Joey entered his junior year at the newly named Lansdale Senior High School with a small but loyal circle of friends… Johnny, Phil and Larry plus others that he would meet along the way.

CHAPTER 2

T
he Donaldson’s were as conservative and straight-laced as they came. Father Clarence looked like a 20th century Abe Lincoln. He was an accomplished pianist and was the organist at the Catholic Church in Lansdale. The salary was modest but he was able to supplement the household income by teaching voice and piano. Mary, his petite wife, was right out of “Father Knows Best”. House dresses were bright and cheerful and she maintained a spotless home while looking like she was heading to the opera.

They had two daughters…Mary Lou who would turn 16 in November and Allison who had just turned 10. In spite of the age difference the girls were close but firmly under the thumb of their strict father. They also were musically gifted. Mary Lou had the voice of an angel and Allison was a budding concert violinist. Why they named their eldest daughter with the same name as the mother was anybody’s guess but it never really was a problem in the day to day running of the household.

While Mary Lou was the poster child for “prim and proper”, there was a spark deep inside that was longing to get out, a rebellious spark that, if ignited, could destroy all the plans her family had laid out for her future. They knew that joining the Junior Class at the new high school would place her among kids eager to explore new freedoms and budding sexuality but they were confident she was fortified to resist all temptations.

Everyone liked Mary Lou. Although small in stature, she had a bubbly personality and a voice to match. She was not the cheerleader type but was just as popular and explored every social option she could…French Club, Choir, Future Teachers, etc., etc. She maintained straight A’s while attending all of the most difficult Advanced Placement classes, including Ms. Mason’s AP English class.

Joe, as he preferred to be called these days, was the class clown in many of his classes. He was able to balance a sense of humor that his classmates found to be very funny, without pissing off the teacher who also often laughed at his outbursts. This is how he caught the eye of Mary Lou.

Joe had to take at least two years of a language to be considered for college. His two years of Latin in Junior High were almost futile and he passed with D’s only because of his wit and personality. He chose to take French in his junior and senior years and walked into French 101 finding himself surrounded by sophomores with two years of French study already under their belts. Searching for a face he recognized, he saw Mary Lou from AP English smiling at him from across the room.

—

A typical work week for Joe was working 5PM to 10PM two or three days a week and then all day on Saturday. White shirt and black bow tie was the required uniform with a long white apron secured around the waist. Stock boys were issued a Garvin stamper to price canned goods and stickers and this was carried hanging from the apron strings like a six-gun.

After work on week nights the guys headed to the nearest drive-in restaurant for a coke and fries summoned on the speaker. Of course you had to back into your spot and it wasn’t uncommon for someone to tear off a speaker in the process. Once you settled in, the rest of the evening was spent watching the hot cars roll through… 409 Impalas, Dodge and Plymouth Hemis, and, best of all, Corvettes!

Johnny and Larry had old Fords that they tricked out but Phil had to beg to use the family VW Bug which was rarely allowed. Of course he wasn’t working like the others so gas money was in short supply. Having some money also opened the door to another important symbol of Joe’s manhood…smoking. Joe was late coming to this party among his friends but before long he could actually finish a Pall Mall without hacking his lungs out.

As Winter turned to Spring in 1963, Joe had settled into a routine: school, work, and cruising the drive-ins. Obviously what was missing and probably most important was study time. He would come home after work and head to the desk his dad had built into the basement wall. Within a few minutes he would nod off with a text book open in front of him, a study discipline that clearly was doomed to failure.