Came back to take
a look at my old neighborhood in my home town.
It had been a long time since I was last here. In fact it was when I graduated from High
School and went to college. As soon as I
left my parents had split up got divorced and moved away. They never said where they moved to. In fact I never heard from either of them
after the first six months I was in college.
I was on full ride scholarships so they never paid a thing for my
college. Of course I had just turned
fifteen when I graduated from High School.
My parents, dubbed me a precocious brat, which I probably was. Oh I had plenty of friends in school. I was just good at maneuvering adults. They got mad at me because I could out think
and outwit them. Actually it was a very upscale
neighborhood. My parents were well known
college professors. I was their only
child. I really don’t think they had
planned on having me.
I was now twenty
eight and had a couple of doctorates. I
also had a number of very valuable patents and so far two bestselling novels to
my name. I had maneuvered a good
interest in several very successful companies, so I had money. There were three very attractive girls, in the
general neighborhood, I had an interest in while in school. I wondered if they were around. They were probably already married. It would be fun to check that out. I just finished another novel and had sent it
off to the publisher and decided to take some time off and enjoy myself. I had never felt I had the time to seriously
pursue any girl so far. Now I had the
time and the money so I thought I might look around.
Decided to drive
my car, through the old neighborhood, as I came into town in the morning. I will look for a place to stay later. The houses looked a little older, but not
much seemed changed. I was surprised
that I remembered where those girls had lived.
Those homes looked well cared for.
I wonder if the same family lived in them. I also did remember the names of the
families. The park I remembered nearby
was also still there and looked well cared for.
On a whim I decided to look up a coffee shop bakery that was one of our
favorite places. It wasn’t that far away
from the neighborhood. It was kind of
near the High School. I found it and
parked the car and walked to the shop.
It looked exactly the same and had the same wonderful smells coming out
of it. I walked in and up to the
counter. I recognized the woman at the
counter with the two girls. She was the
daughter of the owner and she had been in school with me. A smile of recognition came upon her face.
“Carlon Tataan,
what are you doing back here,” she said.
“Hello Charleen,
you running the bakery now?” I said.
“My husband and I
took it over. I married Greg
Charles. You remember him. He was in the class ahead of us,” Charleen
said.
Out of the corner
of my eye I noticed three rather attractive young women sitting together at a
table at the back of the room. When I
got my roll and coffee I turned and looked around the room for a table. There was one next to the one I saw the three
women. I thought I recognized two of
them at least.
In fact I thought those two were two of the girls I had a kind of crush
on in high school. I took my coffee and
rolls and moved to the table and gave a nod of my head to the women as he
settled himself down to enjoy the coffee and rolls. With a smile one of the women said,
“Are you just
visiting Carlon or have you decided to come back to your hometown,” in
explanation she added, “I’m Casey Karan.
We were in High School together.”
I laughed, “I
thought I should recognize you, Casey.
You were one of the cute girls I had a crush on back then,” I said.
“How come I
didn’t know about that,” said Casey.
“You were always
surrounded by the jocks and I was too shy to try to break into that group,” I
said.
“I don’t remember
you being particularly shy, Carlon,” said another of the women, “I was Taylor
Tilden then. Actually I am now back to
being Taylor Tilden again,” she added with a grin.
I laughed, “Yeah,
you were another one I had a crush on.”
“You spread the
crushes around. Couldn’t you make up
your mind?” asked the third young woman.
“I was in the same class. I was Chris Loudon then. I’m the widow of the group. I’m now Chris
Samlon, but I am thinking of changing back to Chris Loudon to join the group.”
“Holy Cow,” said
Carlon. “You’re the third of the three I
had a crush on back then. You were the
athlete of the group. I was never
willing to work at being an athlete that the coaches required, nor had that
great a talent at it.”
“You always
seemed to be in very good shape if I remember rightly,” said Chris.
“Oh I did
exercise regularly then, I just wasn’t willing to put in the extra time the
coaches demanded. There were other
things that were a little more important to me,” said Carlon.
“Like being the
smartest one in the class,” said Casey with a smile. “And writing your little stories, the teacher
would confiscate.” Carlon laughed.
“They never told
me I couldn’t write them and they never gave them back to me,” said
Carlon. “I always wondered what they did
with them.”
“I remember
someone saying they passed them around for the other teachers to read,” said
Taylor.
With a grin Carlon
said, “No wonder I had such an awful reputation.”
“I don’t remember
that it was awful, just slightly off beat and perhaps a trifle racy,” said
Chris.
“I didn’t think
my stories were racy,” said Carlon trying to look surprised.
“They probably
were for a high school student,” said Casey, “you weren’t suppose to know that
much about life.”
“Hey, my parents
were college professors,” said Carlon, “they ignored the fact I was in the room
and had big ears.” Then he added, “I
learned how to ask oblique questions so they never knew how much I really
heard.”
Chris said, “That
shows in the stories you write. I’ve
read them, and I liked them. When’s the
next one coming out, and do we get a sneak preview?”
“I just sent a
new one in, and you will have to wait until it comes out, no sneak previews,
that would only spoil it,” said Carlon with a broad grin.
“Spoilsport,” said Casey. “not even a little hint.
“Well it is
different from any others,” said Carlon with a grin. Chris made a face at him and he laughed.
“Where are you
staying?” asked Taylor. “That new motel
out on the highway going south, is suppose to be real nice and moderately
priced.”
“Thanks,” said
Carlon, “I hadn’t checked in anywhere yet.”
Then with a grin he said, “Do any of you know a good real estate agent I
could have find an apartment and then keep an eye out for a house to buy?”
“You’re planning
to settle down in your old home town?” Chris asked. Then she added, “Carla Jorden, she was Carla
Swansen, is a real estate agent, who knows her way around town. She might know of some good apartments,
especially if you are going to be looking for something to buy.”
Carlon laughed,
“You mean she might steer me to a good apartment as she might be able to make
some money off of me if I eventually buy a house.”
Chris grinned,
“She was always willing to really work at something that promised a good pay
back for her.”
“There’s nothing
wrong in that, as long as she delivers a good product,” said Carlon.
“I think she has
a pretty good reputation and she has been at for a while,” said Casey.
“I’ll have to
check her out,” said Carlon.
With a broad
grin, Chris said, “She’s married.”
Carlon laughed.
“I meant as a real
estate agent, smarty,” Carlon said.
