| Photo provided by GLENDA SHELTON COX Top right is Wayne Cox, Glenda's husband and my best friend when we were in the 8th grade at Kinzua Grade School and thru football season as freshmen at Wheeler County High School. I'm top left. |
Though way to young for a serious romance, Norma and I had feelings for each other.
Top middle is Stan Cox, Wayne's older brother.
The house is where Bill and I lived with our parents.
A word about Glenda: On Fridays after lunch there was a sock-hop in the gym. I always sat in the bleachers, read Science Fiction paperbacks. During slow dances Glenda would get me to dance with her. I once asked her why she wanted to slow dance with me, an obvious geek. Her reply? "You're the only guy here that doesn't roaming hands."
Looking at my hands, I wondered what she meant, stated my ignorance. Glenda put her hand on my shoulder, said, "Chuck, don't ever change." My Dad was the only other person who ever told me that.
Now, we get to the gist of this post.
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I was 11 years old when my family moved from Anchorage, Alaska to Kinzua, Oregon. By that time via friends and my Mom I’d been exposed to several Christian sects: Methodist, Catholic, Christian Science, Salvation Army. I had noted they all shared the same holy book: The King James Bible.
The house we moved to in Kinzua was just down a hill from the grade school’s playground. There was a row of swings at the northern boundary of the playground. One day I was sitting in one of the swings, looking at the back of my family’s house, thinking about those sects and how they were related to one another. A kid came to me, sat in the next swing to my left.
“Watcha thinkin’ about?” he asked.
I replied, “Religion.”
The only church in the area was Baptist.
The kid, he snorted, announced “You know, if you’re not a Baptist you’re going to hell.”
I said, “If you actually believe that, you’re the one going to hell. In fact, from what I’ve seen of this world, you are already in hell.”
“Up yours,” snapped the kid as he stood, stomped off.
It was my turn to laugh.
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