The Road Not Taken
Chapter 24
April 14, 1974
It was a Sunday and Sam had just finished at the library where he'd been studying for his re-test in Agri-business. The professor had been greatly surprised at Sam's nose dive a few weeks before and had called Sam into his office. He explained that while he normally didn't offer re-tests, he was going to do so for the class. When Sam had asked why, he said that it had surprised him that his star student had flunked the test. He'd asked if there was anything bothering him and Sam had told him that he'd recently suffered a breakup with his fiancée.
The professor, Dr. Dickerson, had smiled kindly rationalizing that that these things happened. He figured that it wouldn't hurt to give the other students another chance as well and predicted that the scores would go up for the class overall. Sam thanked him and then decided that he was going to make sure he showed the instructor he could do the work. He'd spent the last two hours studying.
He had just left the library and was walking across the campus towards his dorm when he saw Peter Fisk. The man looked a little shocked and decided to find out what was going on. He hailed the man, "Hey, Pete. What's going on?"
His friends eyes held sadness as he turned towards him. "Didn't you hear the news? King Thunder's Tonic, was killed today in Detroit!"
"Who's that?" Sam asked, not sure what his friend was talking about.
"You don't know King Thunder? Don't you remember, that's the band I really like. I play their music all the time." The look Peter gave him made him wonder if he'd grown another head. "You once commented on how you liked their lyrics. They just recently came out with a new album, Five All Night."
Suddenly the memory of the band hit him. Tonic was the lead singer of the band that sported wild makeup and spiky hair. "Oh yeah. Isn't that the album with the song 'Fate's Wide Wheel?' It was pretty good."
Wide eyed, his friend answered, "Good?! It was flipping brilliant!" Pete's shoulders suddenly sank and he shook his head sadly, "I can't believe this happened."
"What are they saying happened?" He genuinely wanted to know now that he had a context to put the knowledge into.
His friend sighed. "According to the news it was some crazed fan. He killed Tonic with a knife and then disappeared into the crowd. They have no idea of who it was."
Sam shook his head, his voice saddened. "Wow. That's messed up."
"Yeah. Tell me about it." For a moment his friend was silent, but then curiosity hit. "I wonder what the band is going to do now?"
Shrugging, Sam replied, "I guess they'll get another lead singer."
"I guess."
After a moment, Sam continued, "Well, I'm heading back to the dorm." He put a hand on his friends shoulder, his voice indicating concern. "You okay now?"
The answer came with a nod. "Yeah. It's just that you don't expect this type of thing to happen to a singer. See you later, Sam." His friend turned towards the fraternity house he lived at.
Sam headed back to the dorm thinking how sad it was for such a talented man to lose his life so suddenly. Sometimes, you just couldn't fathom the things that happened in the world.