Patrick Cox:  

Thriftway. Babb's West Lane Thriftway. Gone, now, of course. High school for me was like the four corners of a square: Elmira High School, Thriftway, the Pentecostal church in Veneta, and a friend's house. With the freedom I enjoyed by owning four used cars, one of which was usually running, I practically lived at James Morris' house our senior year. But sometimes I crashed at Tracy Johnson's or Mike Barker's. I think I wanted to go. There was no problem at my house. My home was decent and my family great. But there were four of them, all women, and none with anything resembling my interests. So I worked the grocery store and stayed at friends' houses as much as possible. But for positive reasons. My urge to go was completely fulfilled when I moved to Alaska to go to college. 2,300 miles of gone away. But I'm ahead of myself. It's challenging trying to visualize how others' perceived me in high school. I don't flatter myself: I assume that most of you had no particular opinion on me at all. I think I was a pretty funny guy, and hopefully someone besides me noticed. Khrystal Berry can attest to my superior "knees bent backwards" funny walk. Rob Powers was the straight man, while I laughed in advance, during, and after every clever thing we said or did. :) I wasn't a sports guy, I didn't go to school dances (except that I was the best square dancer in my sophomore P.E. class... I sneaked a look into the grade book), I did not sign up for any clubs. I took smart kid classes, worked at a grocery store, and went to church. I sang bass (though I'm really a baritone) for the school choir. Keely (my sister) and I went to school late at night on March 30th (can't remember which year... probably 1987) and drew chalk body outlines all over the place. We ran a pair...Expand for more