Once the envelope was open, I had no idea the memories would come back so quickly...
DeeAnn Reynolds was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen.
A member of the Pep Squad, she got to wear a gaudy uniform and jump up and down when the team won. As Team mascot, I got to hand them towels in the showers, afterwards.
Being the mascot was the only thing that really saved me while I was in high school. Already feeling, at the time, that I was "different"-- a bit of a bookworm/egghead-- my association with the football team allowed me to be "kinda cool" and kept them from pegging me as a "faggot."
My parents, hard-working dairy farmers, were so exhausted by day's end, they usually fell asleep in front of their tiny black and white television. I say this without request for sympathy--they just didn't have the energy to keep up with my questions and decidedly non-diary interests.
DeeAnn was the first person who ever really listened to me. She never slighted what I had to say, though it was clear that my devotion to movies and books didn't interest her a bit. We were the same age and quick with a joke or incisive, smart-ass analysis of the kids at school we didn't like.
I always assumed that she had eyes for the football team (like I did), but one victorious game she grabbed me and kissed me full on the mouth. It was the first time that a woman had ever done that to me.
I was wild with joy and confused beyond belief because I'd never thought of her that way while it was obvious she'd been thinking that way about me for awhile. I kissed her back.
We dated for the last part of our senior year and her family didn't like it a bit, especially her grandmother, a blue-haired old woman who smelled of mothballs and money.
DeeAnn and I made love for the first time that summer. We were both virgins, the sex clumsy and rushed. It lasted about five minutes.
Since we were going to two different colleges, we planned out our holidays for the next year so that we could see each other as much as possible. I loved her and wanted to marry her, convinced she'd save me from myself.
Then, one day about mid-July, DeeAnn's grandmother called me and invited me over for "a chat," as she called it.
She was pleasant enough to me over the phone, so I hoped she was going to make amends.
Quite the contrary.
As I sat down, she put a folded piece of paper down on the table before me and said, "My grand-daughter doesn't want to see you, anymore."
