Dalton himself asked me to post it on ASVS for archival. Originally
written for a flubbed school assignment.
When I looked at the paper that day, nothing short of absolute shock
occupied my face.
It was hard to believe it was already ten years ago. When I was at
the tender age of sixteen, I had attended Mulberry High School in the
Big River Valley. The school sat on the edge of the river, affording
most of the classrooms a spectacular view, often to the chagrin of
teachers who complained about distracted students. The shore ran up to
the school's walls, and would have made a good recreation ground had
it not been fenced off for student safety. The parking lot was the
only truly habitable part outside of the building itself, and so
during lunch most of the students would congregate there. It was there
where I met Clarie and Jake.
Clarie was one of those "preppy" girls; it seemed as if no man, jock
or not, could approach her. She always wore the most elegant clothes,
as far as one can wear in high school and not appear to be a total
dork. Every day she'd pull up to in the parking lot in her Bimmer,
undoubtedly a gift from her too-rich parents. Everywhere she went, she
would flaunt her wealth and beauty and strut her stuff. Every guy in
the entire school wanted her. It was no surprise that Jake had
irresistible feelings for her.
If there was anybody who was the exact opposite of Clarie, it would
have to be Jake. He always drove to school in his rusted Chevy truck,
and to use any cliché about so-called "trailer trash" would be an
overestimate about him. While Clarie focused much of her energy
towards intellectual pursuits, Jake seemed totally concentrated on
football – he was the team's wide receiver. And while Claire always
had a clean, bubbly air about her, no one remembers the last time Jake
was seen clean. They seemed like total foils of each other, and yet I
suppose it was natural for Jake to be intensely infatuated with her.
I clearly remember the first time Jake tried to ask her out. She was
sitting on the picnic table in the parking lot, the centerpiece of a
large crowd of her friends. The picinic table sat under a large Oak
tree, which was a favorite spot fore eating lunch on hot days. He
slowly and nervously approached her, his hands shaking. As I observed
from a distance, I could swear he could free himself of all that dust
just by the virtue of his shaking. It was obvious to me that Clarie
would smell his fear from a mile away. Girls don't like boys who are
afraid, even if Jake was as tough as they came. However, at the last
minute he managed to straighten himself out and grabbed a few words
from the bottom of his throat.
"Hey…Clarie. Would you…go out with me?"
I would never forget her response to that question. She didn't speak a
single syllable. Rather, she calmly and casually turned around, and
began to laugh. Her friends joined her immediately. I could imagine
the utter devastation that Jake must have felt.
Later that day, Jake himself told me all about it. He told me about
why he admired her so much – though it was plainly obvious to me.
After all, even I was taken in by her beauty, and one cannot help but
admire her intellect. We both agreed that she was just
absolutely…perfect. We both gave an amusingly well-timed sigh at the
thought.
Jake wasn't a difficult man to understand. I had known him for most of
my life, and I thought I knew him pretty well. However, there was
something about him that seemed different when he talked about Clarie.
He almost seemed like a changed man.
Jake was one of those people who was used to getting what he wanted,
usually by sheer will and force. His size was nothing less of
intimidating, and his muscle mass impressive. Nonetheless, he had a
surprisingly slender build, which was the main reason why he was
merely a receiver rather than a linebacker. He was from a poor family;
his dad had a living working on cars, but not too many people owned
cars in this part of the country. Moreover, most people just took
their cars to the dealerships. His dad's business was really hurting,
and so he was going through some rough times.
However, despite his rough exterior, Jake seemed almost like a
gentleman whenever he thought about Clarie. He told me he decided that
he would change for her; that's how committed he was to winning her
heart. If only she knew about it as well. I decided that moment to
visit her personally. Maybe I could talk her into giving him a chance.
It took me seemingly forever to find her house. As I drove my Chrysler
in and out of the winding roads of the valley, I struggled to look
over the map and pinpoint her exact location. A wrong turn cost me an
extra fifteen minutes, time I could've used on my homework
assignments. But then again, I thought, if I truly cared about my
homework that much, I wouldn't have bothered to do this for Jake.
Finally, I found her place, and it seemed like a rather obvious
location – it was perched on the high side of a mountain along with a
cluster of other luxury homes. I pulled right along the curb, and
could not pull my eyes away from their three-car garage. My home was
blessed with only one, and I have honestly never seen such a sight
before. To me, this anomaly was nothing short of amazing. Little did I
know of the other things in store for me.
When she invited me into her home, I was absolutely stunned by the
beauty within the home, matched only by the beauty of the young woman
standing before me. The rooms were furnished with the plushest
wall-to-wall carpeting that I had ever felt, and the rooms came alive
with the light from multitude of windows. I looked out the corner out
of my eye to see shelf after shelf lined with books. I wondered to
myself why a single family would desire so many books.
"My dad's a CEO" she said from nowhere.
"What is that?" I asked.
"Chief Executive Officer. As in the person in charge of a large
corporation?"
I honestly did not fully understand what she was getting at. I guess
a poor valley folk like me would never understand.
She took me into the dining room, where a beautiful oak table
dominated the room, which was three quarters glass. These three
quarters of the room beheld an impressive view of the entire valley,
including the school, which was no more but an indistinguishable dot.
I said the only thing I was capable of saying. "Wow!"
Clarie merely gave a sarcastic smirk, like the one a person might give
when he is annoyed at someone's ignorance. This did put me back a
little bit, but I continued unabated.
"Clarie, you know who Jake is, right? Well, the thing is, he really
likes you, and I swear he is a changed man. Just give the poor guy a
chance, ok?"
She began to laugh. I somehow expected some other response, but she
merely kept on laughing. She even started banging on the table wildly
in her fit of laughter. Suddenly in a short, brief moment, all of her
elegance disappeared, revealing a young girl, though still beautiful,
to be only as common as I was. It was almost as if I was seeing to her
true self. Soon after, she dismissed me, and I found myself back in
the driver's seat of my Chrysler, heading back home.
That was the way things were, and I suppose that's how things would
have stayed. I would have been left with poor Jake, who was so
committed to Clarie, and poor Clarie, who was too stuck in her own
little world to realize just how common she was.
Of course, all of that changed that day of the big flood.
We were right in the middle of class, completely oblivious as to what
was happening. Suddenly, I found myself, rushing through the halls
along with hordes of other students trying to reach the highest levels
of the school, as PA's blared out what by then had been painfully
obvious.
We were all gathered in the library, which occupied the entire upper
level of the school. From there, we were treated to a panoramic view
of the destruction outside. Meanwhile, fear took over everyone's
minds. The library became a frantic scene as everybody lost control.
Before I knew it, a massive figure rammed my back. It was Jake.
"I haven't seen Clarie anywhere! Do you know where she is?"
I told him that she must be safe, and that he shouldn't worry about
her. Besides, she didn't care about him. Why should he care about her?
But that didn't quell his heart at all. I knew that he was a hopeless
case; there was nothing I could do for him.
When I turned around to look out the window, I quickly turned back. To
this day I wished I hadn't looked.
There was Clarie, outside, facing the worst of the flood. Much of her
skirt below her knees had been torn, and her legs were now covered
under the glare of the sun's reflection. Her shirt was soiled, and her
hair was in tangles. She was hanging on for dear life to the upper
branches of the big Oak tree.
It was almost inevitable that Jake would witness this sad event. I
knew that he was crazy and infatuated enough to try and rescue her,
and I knew even he didn't stand a chance against the currents. As much
as I wanted to rescue her myself, I knew she was as good as lost.
"Jake, I think you better come with me."
"Why?"
"Because I said so, now do I have to force you?"
"What is this all about?" Suddenly his head turned toward the windows.
Acting as fast as I could, I threw my jacket over his head. As he
struggled to wrestle it off, I threw myself on his back and kept it on
as tight as I could. Almost immediately the librarian came and pulled
us apart. I got suspended for three days but it didn't matter as the
school was closed for a month for repairs. However, I knew I saved
Jake's life that day. As the librarian dragged me away, I looked out
at the tree. Only Clarie's shirt remained, snagged on an upthrust
branch. No other trace of her was to be seen.
I took the newspaper down and set it on the breakfast table. It was
hard to believe it was already ten years. I had wondered what had
happened to poor Jake since then, and sometimes I even wondered what
happened to poor Clarie. However, I knew that I had made the right
choice. If that had been Jake on that tree, I doubt Clarie would have
even noticed. However, Jake was fanatical enough to rescue her. As sad
as it was to say, I knew he was better off without her. And a small
part of me, though sadistic as it was, was even glad she was gone –
better let Jake's dreams be swept away by forces beyond anyone's
control than be utterly crushed by a cold heart.
COPYRIGHT 2002 by RAY C. (RAYCAV)
EDITED BY COL. FALKENHORST
ALL CHARACTERS ARE ORIGINALS CREATED BY RAYCAV. ANY RESEMBLENCE TO ANY
REAL PERSON, LIVING OR DEAD, IS PURELY COINCIDENCE (with obvious
exceptions...*winks to Carly K.* you know where you are:)
INSPIRED BY "Truth or Consequences" BY ALICE ADAMS, COPYRIGHT WHENEVER
THE HELL IT WAS COPYRIGHTED (I think my ending is better
)INSERT MORE LEGAL CRAP HERE
