June 2014 Challenge on Harmy Board Extras website

September 1977

LaJolla, California

To the students in Ms. (not Miss) Crenshaw's Homeroom/English Class they were given an assigment 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 the teachers have anything else to do on the first day of school. Every yeaer it seemed like it 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 would be very handsome. She was able to get the class settled in some semblance of order and told then to get pen and paper out and write an essay about their summer. Several of the students who were siblings of previous students, and she had an idea of who would be decent students and who 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 to work looking at the essays, at least today she wouldn't be strict regarding spelling and grammar, as they had no chance to proofread their essays before turning the assignment in to her.

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 were students who spent the majority of their days at either the beach or at the 'club'. Other students had spent the majority of their summer at one camp or another. Those were the students she almost felt sorry for; didn't their family take a family vacation. She had fond memories of her family taking yearly vacations despite her father's position as president of the local bank in her hometown.

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 of June, then 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 La Jolla, 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 of you and the boy, if you want to do something, volunteer." Trish is my Mom's name. My dad, he's MIA, that means missing in action, he went down December 24, 1969 somewhere in Vietnam. We thought he might have been a POW, that means Prisoner of War, but he 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 Bellsville, 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 Two 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 was not fun. They are sure cranky animals, people don't realize.
After all my chores and the stuff Grandma wanted me 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 meant 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. Grandma and I went to Gettysburg, and Lancaster, and Philadelphia. Grandma and I also went to the county fair. It was in the town of Stillwater. I had fun, despite the fact that Grandma didn't want me to go on many rides. I had to chose the three I could go on. At the fair, there was this one guy, he looks like's right out of high school. He was beating me at the shooting gallery-Grandma was okay with that one-he said he's going to join the Marine's and he wants to become a sniper. I told him that I was planning on going to the Naval Academy. Who knows, maybe we'll meet up someday. Despite the fact he's a lot older than me, I'll be his boss, since he's enlisting, and with going to the Academy I'll be an officer. When we left the fair we went to the general store there to get some pills for Grandma, she was out and by the time we'd get back to Bellsville the store would be closed. The guy who runs the store looks just like the dad on The Walton's Turns out the guy who beat me at the shooting gallery is his son. He came into the store right before we left.
Getting into the Academy means that i have to, as Mom puts 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. 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 Dad's alive there isn't anything I can do about that.

There aren't that many kids my age in our neighborhood, and I think my Mom 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 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 Harmon had a good grasp 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 Harmon wanted to get into on of the military academies he would be a good student. It was the 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 planned to go to the office, and check on Harmon Rabb's records and find out who his stepfather was. She had the feeling she knew who it might be. She'd spent the summer in Honduras visiting her best friend from high school who was working there. Therefore she missed out on her Uncle Frank's wedding. He was getting remarried, after his wife's death in an automobile accident. Frank and new family would be moving to the La Jolla area after the wedding. She'd sent congratulations, but wanted to look him up for a short visit, now that he lived in the same town. Having a few minutes left in her free period, she decided to check on the new student's records. To her amazement she confirmed that she was related to this student. And from the essay she knew he would not appreciate that fact. She knew her uncle Frank, and given time she knew that her student would grow to at least like her uncle.