Week Three - I Don't Know Why I Remember

Week Three – Journal 2

I don't know why I remember riding in the back of a rental van driving across the country from Houston, Texas to Los Angeles, CA with the other members of the Drama club. We were all 5 of us laid out in the furthest part of the van, having some of the best fun any of us had ever had. I don't know why I remember the game we played as we waited impatiently to finally get to Hollywood and see some big stars. We were seniors in high school, with some level of dramatic prestige among our classmates, but we were more than ecstatic to get to see some real life celebs. My closest friend, Arnitta and our other good girlfriend, Donna, were playing a game where we'd count all of the Mercedes Benzes that we'd see on the road and once we spotted them we'd do our best Count (of Sesame Street fame) imitation - “ Two! Two Mercedee-cees! HA, HA, HA!” Why we called them 'mercedeecees', I have no idea.

I remember my drama coach in the passenger side, his stature almost dwarf-like, his little black toupee sitting comically on top of his head. Mr. Doner was his name, and he would later die a violent death from some guy he'd picked up and taken home. But that day, I remember him turning around in the passenger seat, beaming at us and pointing things out – we were his pride and joy back then. We'd won numerous awards under his tutelage and had gone on to the state drama competitions and won there also. I remember the trip being a sort of reward for us being such good students in our last year. I wasn't the best actor though, by a long shot. That would go to my friend, Donna, who struck me with her emphatic, cat-like eyes as a sort of stacked African-American Elizabeth Taylor. She actually performed a scene from “Cat on a Hot Tine Roof” in drama competitions. Her curviness was unequaled in our inner city high school.

Yes, Donna was the diva in our group. I was “the smart one” and fittingly when she won the Best Performer award at our last Drama banquet, I was bestowed the award for “Most Likely to Succeed”. Hilarious! That should have given me a clue right there that I was destined to do something other than act. But on this trip, I just remember laughter and excitement and joy. This was the most fun I'd had since I had been in high school. The Drama Club had changed my life. Whereas before, I had been the nerdiest of nerds, walking around with my super-thick eyeglasses and sporting the drippiest of jheri curls. Once I joined that group of hilarious misfits, we elevated one another and as a result elevated ourselves. I was no longer the quiet, reserved bookworm that I once was. I was confident, funny, fun and relatively talented. I remember on that trip I was wearing my favorite Red Devil jeans and my head was in Donna's lap. Donna had her head in Arnitta's lap and we were all laughing and joking around. I remember the sun coming through the windows of the van, illuminating our shiny happy faces and capturing the face of Jessie, the friend of Mr. Doner's who had come along to drive us. His light skin was smooth and I'm not sure whether I had a crush on him or not. But I did like his curly light brown hair and how it was not quite an afro, but almost.

I don't know why I remember Donna affectionately caressing my face, and playing in my hair, almost like a lover would. Her laugh was infectious and I can see her throwing her head back and roaring with laughter, her eyes squinting in a frown of hilarity. I remember licking her face. Yes. I licked her face. It was one of those things that I did because I knew it grossed her out. I'd lick her face and she'd scrub away at that spot for the next 5 minutes, all grossed out, but laughing the whole time. I don't know why I remember being in the back of that van playing “count the mercedeecees” with those girls and finally coming into my own as a young man; I hadn't yet figured out the “gay” part yet, but I think that maybe with that trip, I was on my way.