Tuesday, September 18, 2018

Thoughts On What Kavanaugh Is Accused Of

 Everything below is the absolute truth, according to my best, most possible recollection. I swear it, before God. The names have been changed (and some names not named) for reasons I just think best, since a couple of those involved I still have contact with.



1981.
It was Fourth Of July weekend, and I was headed on a band trip (I was in Youth Band back then... Parades, Field Shows, Concerts... similar to high school bands but not limited to the students within a particular school.)

The band was housed at the local high school, within the auditorium, with free access to the school grounds, locker rooms, and even the swimming pool.
Upon arrival Friday afternoon (this would be July 3rd), we settled in and got acclimated to our new surroundings.
Some played cards, enjoyed the pool, tossed footballs and frisbees, the snare drums wandered off to make noise til it got dark, when things quieted down. Then the weed came out while some (not all) had a little smoke time while looking at the stars
We were headlining the local parade in the morning, and doing a field show soon after. A hangover was not a good thing when you had several hours in the hot sun the next day, so the alcohol largely stayed under wraps the first night.

The next day was the Fourth Of July. We did our performances. The mood was festive, and it was time to enjoy the fireworks and the rest of the evening before we headed back home in the morning. The alcohol came out, and more was procured from the liquor store about a block away.

Charlene and Christine had joined the band just a couple weeks before the trip. They both had just turned 14 (as in, within the past week). 14 was the minimal age to join the band, but others were allowed in, so long as they didn't do any official band things, like competing in a parade, etc...I didn't know their ages at the time. I didn't even know their names yet as I was in the percussion section and we didn't normally mix with the band section during rehersals. I assumed they were a year older or more, because we didn't usually get 14 year olds in the band unless they had an older sibling who was already in it.

I had been drinking beer, but not a lot, slowly nursing a sixer of some cheap stuff.  I had a very low, relaxing buzz that I was maintaining. I was not in any way drunk, and I had not touched any weed that night. I was just relaxing...beer, and cigarettes... a level of chill... ya know?... I found a happy place, and I was happy there...

I was chilling in a court yard with a few others. Maybe tween 4-8 of us were there. I don't remember. Mostly girls, but again, I don't remember for sure....when Charlene walked up, complaining about feeling sick.
I approached her with one of the girls and it was clear that she was drunk. She was looking for a spot to lay down.
We led her over into a corner, where a few girls (2-4, I can't remember) tended to her while she threw up for the next several hours (maybe only 90 minutes, I don't remember for sure, but it seemed like hours at the time.

A couple minutes later Christine walked up,  made a beeline right towards me, wrapped her arms around my neck and collapsed into my arms. She was babbling and giddy. Great! another drunk. And she was really drunk. Couldn't hold herself up.
I still didn't know this girl's name, and now here she is, cuddling up under a tree with me in the courtyard. She was very affectionate, very cuddly, and drunk out of her mind. She didn't know who I was, but she knew she needed my arms on her.

We couldn't let the two girls out of our care.
So, the girls tended to sick and barfie  Charlene, while I tried to settle down Christine, who had let her top down, exposing herself while she cuddled (which, I immediately pulled back up...she was a wearing a one-piece bathing suit type thing, with a pair of shorts).
The other boy (or two that I was chilling with, I cant remember, but I might be able to name one of them. Again, 'might' is not 'can') had fled the scene to less dramatic parts. He was also heavily stoned. (That's why I think I can name him.)

What led up to this?
Hard liquor was produced, and my buddy, Mike, and another boy, Chico, found a hideaway under the bleachers with some other kids, who soon left, leaving Mike and Chico with the company of Charlene and Christine. Making out and heavy petting ensued, whereas both girls lost at least their tops.
Mike and Chico were a bit buzzed, but not drunk. At one point, Mike's alarm bells went off, and asked Chico how much these girls drank.
"Dude, they killed that whole bottle."
Mike said to Chico, something along the lines of, these girls are too drunk,  too young...
Chico agreed.

Soon after,  both girls were in that courtyard, where I was.

Christine remembered going to the bleachers to party with the others, and nothing else after the bottle touched her lips, except for the fact that I played a significant role in her evening.
She didn't remember Mike, or Chico, or Charlene being there.
She knew that I was.
But, I wasn't.

It would have been easy to name me as one of those under the bleachers, because on most such occasions, I would have been there. I had a reputation.
But, that time, I wasn't.
When Christine woke up the next morning she honestly believed that the boy she made out with under the bleachers was the same boy she cuddled with in the courtyard.
Mike was 6'3", athletic, high school basketball player
I was 5'9".

If Mike had done anything that crossed 'that line' with her, I would have been the first one she named. Luckily for her,  Mike was the type of boy who had a sense of honor, and I wasn't forced to defend myself.

The other girls in the courtyard filled Christine in on what happened the night before. How I had looked after her properly, and kept her from further harming herself.
She had little memory of it, except for my presence.
Christine and I became close platonic friends soon after.

1981 was 37 years ago. I was slightly buzzed, and nowhere near drunk on the night I speak of.
A few things I remember vividly. (among them: the smell of Charlene's vomit on the walkway, Christine's brief display of nipples under the moonlight)
Many other memories are fill-in-blank.
Google Earthing the high school we stayed at: The bleachers are not exactly where I remember them. The swimming pool is nowhere near where I remember it being. The courtyard is still exactly as I remember it, with the same pattern of trees/grass/surrounding class rooms. The liquor store is not as far down the road as I remember. And these are things I had full experience with while sober.

A point:
Christine knew that I was the boy under the bleachers. If she had lost her flower that night, it would have been on me. Any polygraph she took would place me as her rapist.

I'm posting this just to illustrate that I don't know/cant honestly or accurately remember everything, or even most things, of what happened on a night that may have scarred at least two drunk 14 year old girls, and likely some others as well.
And I was not drunk that day.

But I do know where I wasn't, on a night when it would be easily credible  for anyone to claim that I was, especially 37 years later.




3 comments:

Mr. D said...

Dang. I could totally see something like that happening. And you can forget about the Supreme Court now, my friend.

Gino said...

at around that time, my parents were telling me i should study to become a lawyer. little did they know... LOL

Foxfier said...

*nod*