we're still here

we planned a trip, the boys
and I, Jim Acs and Perry Hebert,
to California. it was 1974.
we had saved our money,
stuffed what clothes we had
into duffle bags, gassed up
and hit the road in Jim's 57 chevy.
i knew a girl there, a cousin
of a friend from high school.
she'd show us the ropes
of the left coast.
we drew a line on the map
from Maryland to Huntington Beach,
California.
we were young. strong. invincible.
long haired and fair skinned.
how hard would be to get there.
to the ocean, to be part
of it all, out of suburbia.
on the beach with beautiful
California girls. living the life
of surf and sun.
we had no job skills, a little
education, but not much else.
the three of us, together were
going to start a new life.
we were so young,
but the car broke down, ten miles
from home.
we're still here.