Ah, Millgard! Good old Millgard. I remember him well.
And sure as God made little green apples,
Millgard couldn't rescue his way out of a paper bag!
He was the most uncoordinated person I've ever met.
Always dropping things, two left feet. What a klutz!
Back when I first met him, I was half in love with him.
Most of us were. He brought out that instinct in women.
You know, to take care of him. No one could ever make me
laugh like Mel did!
We always called him Mel. He hated the name Millgard!
Ah, those were the days.
Lately I've been remembering the four of us as we were back
then. So young and full of life! The world was ours. I was
going to be a great writer, set the world on fire. Millgard
wanted to be a brain surgeon. (What a sense of humor!)
Jake was the dreamer, our knight in shining armor. And Myrt
had been in love with him for as long as I can remember.
Myrt's always been the pretty one, bright and fun to be with.
Yup, those were the days! Where did it all go? It seems like
only yesterday, maybe it was. Our senior year at college.
Jake was captain of the football team, Myrt the head-cheerleader.
They were homecoming king and queen that year, too. And the
four of us were inseparable.
I remember there was this real weird kid. Chadsworth, I think
his name was. Can't remember his first name. Maybe we never
knew it. He was always following us around. Always suspicious.
We never did figure out what he thought was going on but he sure
did get us in a heap of trouble that year.
It started the night of the homecoming game. Jake and Myrt
were especially happy that night. We'd won the game which
qualified us for the state championship. Then afterwards at
the dance, Jake asked Myrt to marry him.
Of course, we'd have to go out to celebrate later. And that's
when everything started going wrong.
After the dance, we decided to go down to Parker's Pond.
Mel was being especially sweet to me. He gave me a corsage
and a little kiss. That was nice, but I think I wanted a
bigger kiss later on.
Jake's the one who got the idea to go down to Parker's Pond
and watch the moonlight off the water. It felt like a night
for taking chances, so we all agreed.
Off we went, like the four musketeers.
Parker's Pond was on the old Parker land. While a Parker
hasn't lived in Bennington in years, and the land's long
since been sold to the city, we still call it the old Parker
land. It's real name is something like the Bennington City
Gardens, or something. But everyone still calls it the old
Parker land.