“We were talking about college. Are you going to go to college?”

Preston’s dad was an electrician, so we figured he could find a way to tap Mr. Proud’s phone line and see who was making him make the crazy decisions. This wouldn’t be fun by any means, but we would probably have a career started. It was only a few weeks until baseball season, so we had to wrap this case up pretty quickly. I would be breaking out my St. Louis Cardinals uniform for practice. Whitey Herzog sure did know how to motivate those guys. Too bad the Brewers didn’t do a little better in the World Series, but really, the Tigers should have been there. If it wasn’t for Kirk Gibson’s lousy play, we would have won the American League pennant.

Jerry Green summed it up really well in his article, “What Ever Happened to Kirk Gibson?” He was supposed to be our answer to everything, but instead he just struck out and made errors in the outfield. I still got him confused with Al Kaline at this time, but then I figured out that since Al Kaline had a battery named after him, I could think clearer. The only thing Gibby would ever have named after him was a mistake. Oops, there’s another Gibson. “Ricky, that’s a huge Gibson you just made; go to your room.” Yeah, I can see it happening … I couldn’t wait for baseball practice to start. I would probably be on Mr. Lover’s team again.

Mr. Jackson started class and asked us about our future plans. I didn’t really pay attention because I was thinking about the after school program.

“Ricky, what do you think? Is that something that your parents expect from you?”

I wasn’t even sure what Mr. Jackson had asked.

“Mr. Jack Son, I’m not even sure what that mean …” I stammered.

“We were talking about college. Are you going to go to college?”

“No, I think I’ll get married right after high school and get a job,” I replied. Huh!

I didn’t even have a girlfriend at the time and since I was geeky, didn’t even think I would have a girlfriend when I graduated. But, marriage, that would be another story.