The Class of '65 by Jim Auchmutey

Author:Jim Auchmutey
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Published: 2015-01-29T05:00:00+00:00

David Morgan.

The “something” was a simple, sincere expression of congratulations. “I don’t know how you made it,” David told Greg outside the gymnasium, “but somehow you did.” With that, he shook his hand in front of everybody.

Greg was dumbfounded. He had suspected David was different, especially after his comments in government class that winter, but he never would have anticipated such a public display of decency. In three years at Americus High School, it was the most considerate gesture any member of his class had ever made toward him—maybe the only considerate gesture. No wonder Ann Geeslin, the editor of the school newspaper, the Paw Print, wrote in David’s annual: “May you always continue to have that virtue of thinking for yourself.”

Many of the graduates did not possess that virtue, not yet. The commencement exercises provided one last opportunity for them to hiss at the kid from Koinonia. It was a typical program for 1965: an invocation, a few awards, a word from the valedictorian, some yawn-inducing speeches, a couple of inspirational anthems (“Climb Ev’ry Mountain,” the showstopper from the hit movie The Sound of Music, and “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” which took on a certain irony for Greg under the circumstances).

Then came the roll call, in alphabetical order; almost the entire class of one-hundred-plus had collected their sheepskins by the time they reached the W’s and “Wittkamper,” the next-to-last name, was announced. Spectators applauded at first, some of them no doubt out of repetition, but as the name sank in, a chorus of boos rose and drowned out the clapping. Most of it was coming from the seats directly facing the stage, from the graduate section—a final raspberry from some of the guys. Greg strode toward the lectern and accepted his diploma with a quick handshake. He smirked slightly, savoring his triumph of survival, and returned to his seat feeling drained and inexpressibly relieved.

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