The Vinyl Underground by Rob Rufus

Author:Rob Rufus [Rufus, Rob]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Young Adult Fiction / Historical / United States / 20th Century / Social Themes / Prejudice & Racism / Coming of Age
Publisher: North Star Editions
Published: 2020-03-09T18:30:00+00:00

fifteen

The Nearest Thing to Normal

Things would never go back to how they were before Bruce was taken away. But the weeks that followed my draft exam were the nearest thing to normal I’d had all year. Mr. Dori never found out what we did at the theater. Stink and the bullies at school began to heed their fathers’ demands to leave Hana alone. Life after Bruce had always seemed impossible, and it still wasn’t easy, but the world had finally begun to settle.

The day after the fire, my family gathered in Bruce’s room and read through all his letters, participating in his DJ ritual as a singular family unit. I swear I could feel him there with us, laughing as Momma searched for his copy of “Day Tripper.”

It was a long and brutally heavy day, but allowed us to finally, openly, share our grief with one another. The pain still remained, but now we could bear it together instead of letting is smother us. Day by day, I began to breathe again.

My hearing improved, too—but slowly. Focusing in class was nearly impossible, so I called in sick a lot and did my work at home. I spent most of those days at the beach, which was the one place I could think clearly—the roaring surf was able to drown the phantom sounds away.

My time in the sand was haunted by that then-popular slogan: Today is the first day of the rest of your life. It looked good on buttons and posters, but was scary as shit when you were an eighteen-year-old high school senior.

Now that I’d escaped the war, it was time to grapple with the fact that my life would extend into adulthood. I was running out of excuses, distractions, and time. I needed a plan, or at least a next step.

I’d intended on heading to California with Bruce for so long, it felt almost blasphemous to do otherwise now. I’d come to terms with the fact that I didn’t really want to be a DJ anymore, but I felt a duty to carry on his legacy somehow.

Hana said I should think about my own legacy. She wanted me to go to college. But my family wasn’t as well off as hers, so going to college wasn’t as easy as simply wanting to go. I’d need some type of scholarship to swing the tuition.

The head of the wrestling program at University of Florida told Dad that my placement in the county finals gave me a slim shot at a scholarship. Dad started a full-on lobbying campaign, but I didn’t get my hopes up. The lack of effort that defined my wrestling career didn’t bode well for a last-minute free ride.

Milo agreed that a scholarship was unlikely. He encouraged me to stick with California. But he had his sights set on Hollywood, too, so I think the idea of a running buddy appealed to him. He’d finally saved enough to buy his own movie camera—the Kodak Instamatic Super 8 from Sears—and after it left the box, it never left his hand.

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