Follow the Trail

Follow the Trail

Part I: Rockford

The scent of buttered popcorn was in the air. As the Summer sun reluctantly said goodnight and gave way to the stars, a fleet of flying saucers were conducting aerial maneuvers in John Norton's stomach. Why was he so nervous? He had been on dates before. But not with anyone like Rebecca. And although they had already talked for hours on the phone, hung out in the park, been on long walks together, tonight was their first real date. John had borrowed his mom's car, a 1972 Ford Country Squire station wagon, picked up Rebecca, and they were now parked at the Colonial Drive-In movie theater off Highway 55 in Medina waiting for the movie to start. It could not be a more perfect night. John wanted everything to go just right. After they arrived, John went to the concession stand and bought popcorn and a lemonade for them to share. On the screen, animated characters in the shape of a tub of popcorn, a soft drink, a box of Milk Duds and a box of Raisinettes sang and danced, as if the movie goers needed a reminder to go to the concession stand.

John was sipping on the lemonade while Rebecca started in on the popcorn. Rebecca noticed John staring at her. "What are you looking at John?" she said and smiled. John felt a little embarrassed and looked back at the screen. "I wish the movie would start," he finally said. Rebecca put the popcorn down by her feet. "Are you going to share any of that lemonade with me or do I need to get my own?" she joked. John had drank half of it already. "Sorry, yeah, here you go." He handed Rebecca the lemonade and she took a small drink. The screen went black for a second. Rebecca moved next to John so their legs were touching. John tilted his head down and looked at Rebecca. Before he knew what happened, Rebecca tilted her head up and gave John a kiss on the mouth, their first kiss. John and Rebecca were falling in love.

It was the early Summer of 1980 and "The Shining", based on a Stephen King novel, was the main attraction. John and Rebecca were going to be Seniors in high school this Fall. It was just a few short months ago that John, along with his mom, Brenda, and little brother Charlie, had moved to this small town. As he looked into Rebecca's eyes, John remembered how upset he was when his mother told him they were leaving their northern Minnesota home in Blackduck, where John had spent his entire life, and were moving. Now he couldn't imagine being anywhere but here, with Rebecca. Brenda had dropped the bomb on John and Charlie one morning last Winter. Charlie, only nine years old, didn't seem too bothered by it, but John was devastated. He would have to spend his Senior year of High School at a new school, without any of his friends. The first couple of days, John and his mom argued about it. John saying it wasn't fair, and his mom saying they didn't have a choice. It broke Brenda's heart to see John like that. The move was less than a month away and Brenda needed John's help and support to make this work.

Brenda was desperate. She was a single mom and her husband, John and Charlie's dad, had left them all behind going on a year and a half now. Without so much as a note or a phone call, he disappeared, leaving Brenda to take care of their two boys. Brenda knew her husband, Wayne, wasn't happy, but she always thought they could get through it together. But Wayne was a coward. Unable to find steady work, Wayne always looked for the easy way. But an ugly side to Wayne was starting to show up more and more often. Brenda became worried, especially about her boys. He was spending a lot of time away from home. Drinking at the bar, which she wondered how he could afford, or crashing at his loser friends' places and not coming home until the middle of the day. She suspected Wayne was getting into more than just alcohol too and that terrified her. When several days went by without seeing him, Brenda was convinced he had left for good. Brenda knew they would be better off in the long run, but also knew it was hard on the boys. No matter how much of an asshole he was to her, he was the boys' father and they missed him. But even the boys had started to see a change in their dad. Not only was he absent a lot of the time, he was rude and often yelled at Brenda. They knew she was the one keeping things together. Brenda had been working at a local grocery store part time. Between that and the on and off again work that Wayne would get, they barely made ends meet. After Wayne left, Brenda had to beg to get more hours at the store. The last year had been tough, and then Brenda received news that the store would be closing and going out of business. A new chain store was coming in and they couldn't compete. The new chain store had already hired what they needed, and that left Brenda out of work.