One Groovy Summer: Adventure from 1968

By Rocky Gregory

This highly entertaining novel tells the story of a young man named Will who has just graduated from high school at the beginning of the summer of 1968. He and his friends are well aware that they could be drafted into the Vietnam War at any moment, so they set out to have as much fun, adventure, and love as possible. And that's just what they d

• Language: English
• Publisher: Book Vine Press
• Release date: Dec 16, 2022
• ISBN: 9781959450887

Book preview

Prologue

It was a dark and stormy night. No, really it was! In fact, it was much worse than any old rain storm. This was a huge snow storm—a full blown blizzard. And if you were outside in it, you wouldn’t be able to see more than six inches in front of your nose. That’s how much it was snowing. The wind was blowing hard, and it was very, very cold. It was that bitter bone-numbing cold. And to make it even worse, our electrical power was out.

So, there we were, stuck in the freshman dorm with no power. That meant no heat, as well as no lights. We were freezing in there! Our college was located in the mountains of Virginia. It was the middle of January 1969, and it was record-breaking cold. The blizzard had been raging all day and night. Now it was almost eleven p.m., and it seemed to be getting worse out there. The guys in the dorm were really starting to worry about freezing to death.

My room was on the third floor. I had been elected floor monitor, so everyone was huddled in my room hoping our body heat would help keep us warm. The other reason was because I was in possession of two of the biggest candles you ever saw.

You see, I had been dating this hippy dippy girl named Sabrina for a while. She was very pretty and sexy, but she was just too spooky for me. Like when I would ask her out on a date, she wouldn’t just say yes or no. She would give me this funny look while tilting her head to one side. Then she would inform me that she had to consult her tarot cards first. Spooky! Anyway, for my birthday back in November she gave me these two huge fancy candles. One was eight inches in diameter and twelve inches high, and the other one was twelve inches wide and sixteen inches tall. These huge multi-colored candles not only gave light, they gave off some heat too. That heat was what drew all the third-floorers to my room.

I sat the candles on a little coffee table in the middle of the room. Then we all huddled around our only source of heat. Everyone was bundled in their warmest clothes and wrapped in their thickest blankets as well. At first it had been a lot of fun. We were all kidding around, talking about our Christmas vacations and stuff. Many of us were comparing the record albums just out or what rock concerts we had been to lately. But after a few hours of that, we were all talked out.

Unfortunately, we were huddled too close together to stretch out and get some sleep, so we were all just sitting there staring ahead and trying not to shiver or chatter our teeth too much. I could see everyone was starting to get all freaked out. We needed something to keep our minds off what a serious situation we were in.

That’s when I stood up and said, I’m bored. Does anybody have any good stories you can tell us?

Well, hardly anyone had anything to contribute. This one creepy guy that no one really knew told this very weird scary story. I’m pretty sure he was stoned on something. But not much else was being volunteered.

So, I stood up again and said, This is a real drag, guys! Doesn’t anyone have some good stories to tell?

At that little outburst, several of the guys started laughing. Okay, now I was starting to get pissed off.

I looked at my foreign exchange roommate, Abdul, and asked, What’s so darn funny?

Abdul, who was laughing the most, just smiled at me. Then I got it. They were laughing because everybody knew I was the biggest story teller in the whole freshman class.

Someone said, We want you to tell us a story, Will.

Someone else pleaded, Right-on, you have the best stories.

Then my roommate, Abdul chimed in, Yeah, Will, tell us about your summer. He said to the others, Get Will to tell you about his summer. I’ve heard some of the stories, and they’re pretty funny.

Someone else said, Yes, and I remember it was really hot last summer.

Well, after he said that, everyone started to chant, Tell us the story, Will. Tell us the story, Will.

I stood back up, Okay, I will tell you about my summer. And it definitely was a pretty hot summer in more ways than one.

Again, Abdul chimed in, That’s right, so all you virgins better cover your ears.

That’s my roommate, always the funny man.

So, there I was, standing in front of a bunch of freezing freshmen. I could see that it was up to me to keep those guys preoccupied.

Okay, boys and girls. Sit back and relax while I tell you my tale of adventure and romance with a little woe mixed in.

With that, I bowed and began my story.

CHAPTER ONE

Free At Last

It was May 24th, graduation day and I was very happy. You see, my high school was a military academy hidden away up in the Appalachian Mountains. It’s a rich-boys prep school, but with twenty-four-hour R.O.T.C. training. That meant many more rules and restrictions than regular high school. So, my graduation was more like being released from prison. I had been living in military school hell for the last two years. And today I would finally be free. Free to raise hell, and make up for lost time.

My plan for the summer was to have as much fun as humanly possible. I had no idea what the future would bring. I could be drafted into the military and the Vietnam War. I might make it to college, but then flunk out. Who knows! My plan was not to think about any of that for the summer. I just wanted to go wild and be a little crazy for a while, because it might be the last chance I get.

That morning I was awakened by the song It’s a Beautiful Morning by the Young Rascals playing on the radio. It immediately put me in a good mood. I practically flew out of my bed and over to the sink to wash the sleep out of my eyes. Then as I was drying my smiling face with a towel, I heard a big yahoo yell come from my roommate, Skip. It seems he was just as happy about graduating as I was. Skip and I had been roommates for the last two miserable years. He was a nice-looking guy with blue eyes and dark brown hair. He had a wiry frame and stood about five feet and nine inches tall. I turned toward him, and we just smiled at each other for a few seconds.

He said, This is it Will. We’re finally graduating today.

Yes, it’s finally here. Soon we’ll be free men.

And then we both hurried to get dressed. We couldn’t wait to get this day started. The two of us had a great summer planned together. Skip’s family was pretty rich and powerful. And his dad’s influence had gotten us cool jobs at the biggest resort hotel in Ocean City, Maryland. Ocean City is known as a great beach resort. We were pretty excited about all the fun we were going to have there. We had been cooped up all year at this military academy with its strict rules and numerous hours of formations, drills, and marching. So, when you finally get out, you really want to let loose and go wild.

The lack of girls really gets to you after a while too. Being a fairly attractive teenage boy, I had grown accustomed to a fair amount of female companionship. It was a real shocker to go for weeks at a time without seeing a single girl. That’s one thing I never want to get used to. Anyway, military school was a really hard life for a teenager. I was very lonely and constantly missing my family and friends.

To fill up my time there, I played sports and worked out in the weight room a lot. I became a member of both the tennis team and the boxing team. I have been playing competitive tennis since I was twelve. By the time I was a junior in high school, I was good enough to be number one on the team and team captain. During the winter months, I competed on the school boxing team. My dad had taught me how to box and defend myself many years ago. He was an excellent boxer, and I was his best student. Also, I found out that playing tennis three or four hours every day when I was young had made my right arm very strong. When I started boxing middle-weight for the team, I discovered that if I could get a solid right to the head, the fight was pretty much over. All that stuff along with letters and care packages from back home, helped me keep my sanity for the last two years.

We made morning formation just in time to take charge. I was a squad leader, and it was my job to keep my squad in control and looking good at all times. After inspection, the whole company marched to the mess hall for breakfast. I was surprised at how warm it was that morning. The academy was located high up in the mountains of Virginia where the mornings were usually very cold. That day, the sun was already bright in the clear blue sky. It was like a good omen of what a hot, fun-in-the-sun summer we were going to have.

After breakfast Skip and I hurried back to the barracks to finish packing. We kept on our graduation uniforms that we had worn to morning mess. Everything else was packed in our foot lockers and duffle bags. For the rest of the morning, we had to be careful not to get our uniforms dirty. We were wearing the dress uniform, which included white duck pants, our best dress jacket, dress hat, and white gloves.

I asked, How am I going to get all my stuff to my parent’s car?

That’s easy, we get a few privates to do all the carrying for us. Rank has its privileges, right?

And there would be no more dumb-ass inspections or stupid marching drills that day. We just had to wait until our last formation at eleven hundred, where the underclassmen would be dismissed. Then the seniors will all march to the main hall for our graduation ceremony. This is a private affair—no family or friends allowed inside.

While we were waiting, I made the rounds to all the rooms that housed members of my squad to say goodbye. I promised to come back and see them on Homecoming Weekend next year. Pretty soon it was time to go to the graduation ceremony.

I won’t bore you with the details, but we all gave a great roaring cheer when our battalion commander announced, Class of 1968 dismissed!

Then at the same time, we all jumped up while throwing our gloves high in the air to celebrate. Next, all the graduating class ran out of the chapel, screaming and yelling. We didn’t care about the chaos we caused. We were too darned happy, and we knew the officers couldn’t tell us what to do anymore. We were free of that terrible place forever!

Skip came running up to me, his bright blue eyes filled with excitement, saying, This is so groovy man. We’re going to have the greatest summer ever. See you in a few weeks, Will.

We’re going to have a blast! See you soon, I replied.

We shook hands, and he took off, practically bouncing as he went. What a cool guy Skip was. I was glad we would have the summer together before going our separate ways, most likely forever. And with that thought, I turned and headed for my parent’s car.

As I passed the last building before coming to the parking lot, I turned around for one last look. The three main buildings were like gray castles, three stories tall. They even had torrents at each corner of the roofs. That was because the academy had been used as a Confederate fort and hospital during the Civil War. It was a gloomy, cold place, and I was glad to be rid of it forever. But when I turned back to leave, I found one more obstacle in my path to freedom.

He came trucking along like he owned the world. And that obstacle was none other than ole David Rossi. Until a few minutes ago, Lieutenant Rossi had been my immediate superior officer. I would describe him as an A-number-one jerk, except that would be an insult to all the other jerks out there. Let’s just say that we didn’t like each other. He was a petty, two-faced asshole who didn’t like me much because I showed him no respect when he was being a big stupid jerk. And he was that way most of the time. The trouble was, he had out-ranked me having been there for four years, and I had only been there for two years. That’s two years too many as far as I was concerned. Anyway, that meant that he could be as mean to me as he wanted to. And there was nothing I could do about it. I thought but not anymore. You just better watch what you say to me from now on, jerk!

He spotted me and started walking right towards me. I knew this guy wasn’t too bright, but he was making a big mistake right now! I could feel my anger building inside of me. All the shitty things he had done to me and my squad came rushing back to me. Now here he comes waving and smiling that greasy smile of his. He was acting like we were long lost old friends or something!

I had learned a few things while at this school, and one of them had been self-restraint. But this was too much. I was thinking that I was going to knock his block off. Now he was coming into range with his arm stretched out to shake hands. At the last minute I was able to muster a small amount of self-restraint. Instead of jacking his jaw like I really wanted to, I used an old Judo move my dad had taught me. I smiled and stuck my hand out to shake his. But just before I reached him, I brought my right arm straight out beside me. Then I took a quick step with my left foot and a giant step forward with my right foot. This caused my outstretched arm to smack him fully across his chest. And since he was in the process of taking another step forward, the impact caused his upper body to explode backwards. At the same time his feet flew out from under him. Then good old gravity took over and dropped him flat on his back with a big thump, followed by a yelp of pain.

After that I could hear people behind me laughing and some were even clapping. As for me, I didn’t look back. I just kept on marching toward my parent’s car. Of course, now I had an even bigger smile on my face. I guess I still have a bit more to learn about self-restraint.

CHAPTER TWO

Back At The Ranch

I just couldn’t wait to get the hell out of there. It was great to see my parents again.

My mom gave me a hug and said, Will we are so proud of you! You graduated with honors and soon you’ll be going off to college.

Then my dad chimed in, That’s right son, unless you get drafted first.

Oh Greg, don’t remind him.

I said, It’s okay mom, let’s just get the heck out of here.

My dad was a very good driver, and we were home in like two hours. My parents had a nice three-bedroom, two-bath red brick ranch house in the suburbs. Our house was only about a thirty-minute drive east of Williamsburg, Virginia and just a few blocks from the James River. It’s a very beautiful area of the country, but always very hot and humid in the summer. I couldn’t wait to get out of those stiff and uncomfortable military clothes and back into civvies.

When we got there, my two younger brothers were still in school, and my dad had to go back to work. I just settled into my old room to chill for a while. I turned on my stereo and lay back on my nice comfortable bed listening to The Buckinghams’ newest song. Later, about three in the afternoon, I decided to go to the local shopping center. Most of my friends from high school went there after school to meet and chill out before going home. It was a Friday, so I knew many of them would be there soon.

When I got to the shopping center, I decided to check out the old drug store. I imagine it