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Date Posted: 16:41:32 06/24/14 Tue
Author: Karen Joy (Dunbar)
Subject: June 2014 Challenge Vacation (Or What I Did This Summer)

Don't own them, wish I did. End of disclaimer

June 2014 Challenge Vacation

September 1977
La Jolla, California

To the students in Ms (not Miss)Crenshaw's Home Room/English class they were given an assignment that would be turned in at the end of the period, never mind that it was the first day of school. "What I did over the Summer". Didn't teachers have anything else to do on that first day of school. Every year it seemed like that was the question teachers asked.

Ms. Crenshaw noted that there was a new student, LaJolla Preparatory was small enough that you recognized students, even if they were not in your class. The young teen was tall, easily the tallest boy in the class, and she presumed that when he grew up he'd be very handsome. She was able to get the class settled in some semblance of order and told them to get pen and paper out and write an essay about their summer. Several of the students were siblings of previous students and she had an idea of who would be decent students and who might be troublemakers. There were always a few who didn't live up, or down, to her first impressions.

Her next period was free so she got down to looking at the essays, at least today she wouldn't be so strict regarding spelling, as they didn't have a chance to proofread it before turning it in.

As she surmised, she could almost tell what the student would say by their last name. Certain families were members of the country club and those students had spent the majority of their days at the beach or at the 'club'. Some had spent a majority of their summer at one camp or another. She almost felt sorry for them, didn't their family take a vacation together. She had fond memories of her family taking a vacation together, despite her father's position as a president of a small bank. The new student, a Harmon Rabb, Junior (He was quite emphatic about the junior part)had an intriguing tale, and it gave her insight into his life.

My Summer
by Harmon Rabb, Junior

School got out about the normal time, the third week in June, and Mom and I packed the house, getting ready to move. I didn't want to move, but Mom was going to marry HIM, and we were moving to LaJolla, so I had no choice. Thankfully we aren't moving to his place, but a new place, a house that overlooks the ocean, big deal, whoopie.

My Mom met HIM at work, she works at some hoity toity gallery. She said she was still going to work there even after their wedding, and HE's okay with it. Dad wouldn't have been, he would have said. "Trish, I can take care of both you and the boy, if you want to do something, volunteer". Trish is my mom's name. My dad, he's MIA, and went down December 24, 1969 somewhere in Vietnam. We thought he might have been a POW, but didn't come back with the others at the end of the war, so Mom started the process to declare him dead, I KNOW THAT MY DAD IS ALIVE !!!!! But NO ONE believes me.

After the wedding, they went on their precious honeymoon, and I went to my Grandmother's for most of the rest of the summer. She lives in Bealsville Pennsylvania, and has a farm. She was not as mad at my mom for betraying her son as I am, but that may be because Grandma lost my Grandfather when my dad was really small. He died during World War 2 in the Pacific. He was an aviator, just like my dad. And I am going to take lessons as soon as I am old enough.

On the farm, Grandma let me do a lot of the work, not the stuff with motors, because she doesn't want me to get hurt, but I cleaned the barn, and all that sh, stuff that goes along with cleaning a barn. I had to get the eggs from the chickens and believe me that is not fun, they are sure cranky animals, people don't realize.

After all my chores and the stuff Grandma wanted my to do to earn some spending money my day was free. Sometimes I swam in the creek with some of the other kids in the area. We went horseback riding at the Mitchell place, and I went with them, I mean the Mitchells, when they went camping. I think that was when Grandma got a little fed up with me complaining about Mom and HIM.
We did some traveling while I was there, we went to Gettysburg, and Lancaster, and Philadelphia. We, that is Grandma and me, also went to the county fair, in the town of Stillwater, and I had fun, despite the fact Grandma didn't want to go on the rides. There was one guy there who looks like he's right out of high school that beat me on the shooting gallery that they have at the fair, he said that he was going to join the Marine's and he wants to be a sniper. Before we went home we went to the general store to get some pills for Grandma, she was out of them and by the time we would get back to Bealsville the store would be closed. The guy who ran the store looks just like the guy on The Waltons, the guy who plays the dad. Turns out the kid at the fair is his son, he came in to the store right before we left. I told him that I was planning on going to the Naval Academy, who knows maybe we'll meet up someday. And despite the fact that he's older than me I'd be his boss, since he's planning on being enlisted and going to the Academy I'll be an officer.

Getting into the Academy means that I have to as my mom put it. "stay out of trouble, keep your grades up, and stay out of trouble." Why mom said that twice I don't know, but she was saying that long before HE came into the picture.

I enjoyed my time in Pennsylvania, and I do have to admit that I like the view of the ocean from my bedroom, its a whole lot better than where we lived after Dad's plane was shot down. I'd rather live in a studio apartment with my Mom and my Dad, but until I can prove that he's alive there isn't anything I can do about that.

There aren't that many kids my age in our new neighborhood, and I think my plans on getting me involved in sports, and I might still be in Scouts, need to see what troops they have around here first. The one good thing about HIM, he has a boat, and is planning to teach me how to sail. That I will do with HIM, but I'm not going to call him Dad.


Ms. Crenshaw noted that he had a good crasp of the language, and that some of what he was dealing with was normal for his age. She was a little worried about his obsession with finding his father, but if he hadn't been located by now, it was highly likely that he was dead. If he wanted to get into one of the military academies he would be a good student. That was one good thing she had to say about the military academies. She'd protested during the war, even though she'd kept a low profile about it, as she didn't want to jeopardize her teaching career. When she had a chance she would go to the office and check on Harmon Rabb's records and find out who the stepfather was, she had the feeling she knew who it might be,she'd spent the summer in Honduras as a short term teacher, and therefore had missed out on her best friend from high schools wedding, and uncle Frank getting remarried. She knew that he was planning to move to the LaJolla area after the wedding and needed to look him up, and give belated congratulations. Having a few minutes left in her free period she went to the secretary and asked for the records of a new student. To her amazement she was now related to this student. And that he may not appreciate that fact. However, she knew her uncle, and given time, she knew that he would come to at least like her uncle Frank.



THE END

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Replies:

[> Wonderful. Definitely Harm as a child. -- Beth, 17:36:48 06/24/14 Tue [1]


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[> Sounds just like a teenager. Harm and HIM -- poor Trish. -- carramor, 20:24:58 06/24/14 Tue [1]


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[> Wonderful story, loved the mention of the future marine sniper and his dad! -- usmgrad, 20:28:06 06/24/14 Tue [1]


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[> [> Thanks -- Karen Joy, 21:44:27 06/24/14 Tue [1]

I just had to include Stillwater, and two of its more well-known residents when I had Harm going to Pennsylvania. And having him think that the store owner remind him of Pa Walton was just to easy to pass up. The timing was right with the Walton's being in first run during that time period. (Shows my age)


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[> Great story and sounds so much like Harm mixed with that teenage attitude. (inside) -- Nettie, 16:30:52 06/25/14 Wed [1]

If you're game, a 'what I did this summer' essay for his teacher after his Vietnam quest would make interesting reading...and so would his teacher's reaction. Bet she/he would have thought it to be a work of fiction.


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[> Good to see a story from you KarenJoy, you really pegged a petulant Harmon Rabb JUNIOR, nice Stillwater/Marine inserts too. -- JoyZ, 19:17:14 06/25/14 Wed [1]


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[> A great story Karen joy loved it -- Bev uk, 12:22:57 06/26/14 Thu [1]


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[> great summer read for me. -- Kelly, 12:45:38 07/21/14 Mon [1]


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