"Every Face Is A Memory"

During my last visit to South Carolina I was looking at the faces of people I hadn't seen in years and years. As I studied them I thought to myself each face is a memory. Yes, each pair of eyes I looked into, each smile that was turned towards me, each voice that spoke my name in recognition - they all brought up memories of life in Clinton, South Carolina oh so many years ago.

I spent eighteen years living in Clinton while I was growing up. It seemed like forever but as I get older it becomes a smaller and smaller portion of my life. Still the friends I made during those days are ever with me. If not physically then they are still with me in spirit. They haunt my thoughts and my dreams.

One of my first memories is of Denny. Denny lived next door to me when I was living in the house on Holland Street that my mother and father built. He was a year or so younger than me but we were best buddies. I remember getting up on summer mornings and racing next door to Denny'' house to get him so we could play.

Denny lived with his mother, father, uncle and grandmother. His father was an artist of some type and he worked at home. Denny's mother worked downtown. I thought it was just amazing that all five of them lived in one house and got along as good as they did. Three generations under one roof and they all loved and respected each other.

Denny and I stayed friends until he moved to Greenville, South Carolina. I visited him a time or two after he moved but the bond was broken. He still is there in my memory but I haven't seen him in ages. Still when I see kids running up and down the street shouting and having a great time, the first person I think of is Denny.

Another memory for me is Phyllis. Phyllis and I became good friends because her brother Tommy and I were good friends. Tommy could be moody and sometimes he wanted his friends around and sometimes he didn't. If he was listening to a Kentucky basketball game he definitely wanted to be left alone to enjoy it.

When this happened I would just hang around and talk with his sister Phyllis. It was easy to be around her. For one thing she was beautiful, but she was also articulate. She was more sophisticated than any other girl I knew in Clinton, and really didn't care if she was popular or not. A mystique grew up around her because she didn't play the game the other girls in Clinton played.

I don't think she ever dated a high school boy. When she started dating she went straight for the college guys. Since she was mature for her age she fit in better there. But even with the college guys she was aloof in that smoky way of hers. She was searching for a special someone but she never found him - at least not yet.

When I last saw her she had moved back to Clinton after having lived in a variety of places over the years. She is still beautiful, still has the mystique, still doesn't play the Clinton game. I probably knew her as well as anyone did but in retrospect I don't know if I knew her at all.

They all linger inside my mind, these people of my past. Every face is a memory and every memory is a chapter in the book of my life.

 

 

 

 

 

©2006 Jackie K. Cooper

Click above to find out more about Jackie's books!