Hell's Hollow
It is the Halloween season. As, I’ve stated, this has always been my favorite time of year. I guess it harkens it back to my teen years when I worked the Bridgeview Haunted House. I got to work it by being friends with Mike Doyle. His family had been involved in it for years and after being involved with the Park District eventually one year I was asked if I wanted to work the thing, so I did.
I was a guide. This meant that I would lead groups through the maze of the Haunted House. I did not earn any money for this but the gig did have some benefits. The first and biggest was that, being that I was usually leading a bunch of teenage girls through a place where they were going to be scarred shitless. So, they would usually grab on tight to the thing closet to them, me. I would always line my group up so that I had a dateless hot girl in front. Even without that benefit it was still a blast. I laughed with my friends, and got to help work on the setup of all the rooms. On top of all that on the last night, there would usually be this massive blowout followed by a party thrown by the park district a month later.
My first year working we all went to this lady Brenda Johnson’s house for the last night party. There we danced to Wang Chung and drank Stroh’s. Trust me when I say, it was better than it sounds. The next year would be memorable as it coincided with my departure with Nancy. It was funny as it fell exactly on Halloween, 1987. I remember it well and to this day I regret missing that party.
At this point all I did was argue with Nancy. I guess I realized that I was sick of her using me for rides and playing games with me. For her part, she just got sick of me. She met me when she was fourteen and I was sixteen. She now was older and started noticing that guys were checking her out and probably wanted to meet and be with other people. Looking back we had zero in common and as much as I didn’t see it then, now I realize just how different we are. However, at that time I was not seeing things as clearly.
Anyway, the party was to be held at this guys house that lived in Berwyn. The original plan called for me to just follow my friend Dell in his car. However, at some point during the night Nancy, spilled water on her pants, which were white. This caused them to be somewhat see-through. She asked me if I would give her a ride home so she could change. What could I do? So, I got directions from somebody (I’m still not sure who) to the house and drove Nancy home so she could change telling all my friends that I would meet them there.
I drive her home and she changes. I start talking to her Mom. Nancy and her mom were not on good terms at that point but I figured it is always good to get in with a girls mother. At some point just as Nancy was getting out of her bedroom after changing Nancy’s mom made some crack about her daughter and I laughed. This was not met with kindness by Nancy. As we left I knew it was going to be a long ride to Berwyn.
The address I was given had an address on Narragansett. As I would later find out the house was actually on Austin. This was in the days before cell phones so, I had no way of getting a hold of anyone. So, as we got to what we thought was our destination there was a warehouse were a house party was supposed to be. Not one to give up easy, I kept driving around looking for the house. All the while Nancy is yelling at me and calling me a dumb ass because I could not find the place. My Italian blood was beginning to boil.
I tried to hold it for as long as I could but she just wouldn’t stop. Finally in a fit of rage I exploded. I called her every name in the book and reminded her that if she didn’t need to go home we would have simply been bale to follow Dell as planed. She yelled back and on and on it went through the streets of Berwyn.
Eventually, I had enough. I told her I was driving her home and to shut the hell up. For once she did. Not a word was spoken the entire ride home. I pulled into her driveway, she got out of the car and for the next couple of years we barely spoke to one another. Later, when I asked my friends about the party I heard nothing but how great of a night it was. To this day eighteen years after the fact I am still pissed about missing that one. It was one of those legendary blowouts that withstands the test of time.
Looking back at that night, that fight with Nancy was a long time coming and the events of the evening were just the excuse we needed to have it out. I had held back a lot of things and I let them all out that night. She quickly moved on and was soon dating some other guy.
As for me, I spent the rest of 1987 in kind of a funk. I was enrolled at Moraine and was so screwed up about losing what I felt was my first love that I got the worst grades of my life. After like a week of not talking to Nancy I figured I would try and see if I could melt the ice. I couldn’t, as she realized I was holding her back and she just simply wanted to explore her life with new people. I eventually got over it and moved on to bigger and better things.
Some years later, Nancy and I would have a very brief moment or two of passion in a drunken induced set of circumstances. She eventually moved away which was a very good thing. I lost more than one relationship simply because I had a hard time putting my feelings for her in the past. When she moved, I finally got over it and looked at our relationship for what it was. We had some good times but we were young. Not that I know anything about women now, but I knew even less then. Nancy in her own unintentional way taught me about women and how to not deal with them. I made a lot of mistakes with her that when I look back at them, I cringe. I used those experiences and applied the lessons I learned from them to all of my future relationships including my current one. So as painful as it may have been at that time, in the end it was all worth it. Because without those lessons learned I would not be the man I am today and would not be the man my wife fell in love with.
I was a guide. This meant that I would lead groups through the maze of the Haunted House. I did not earn any money for this but the gig did have some benefits. The first and biggest was that, being that I was usually leading a bunch of teenage girls through a place where they were going to be scarred shitless. So, they would usually grab on tight to the thing closet to them, me. I would always line my group up so that I had a dateless hot girl in front. Even without that benefit it was still a blast. I laughed with my friends, and got to help work on the setup of all the rooms. On top of all that on the last night, there would usually be this massive blowout followed by a party thrown by the park district a month later.
My first year working we all went to this lady Brenda Johnson’s house for the last night party. There we danced to Wang Chung and drank Stroh’s. Trust me when I say, it was better than it sounds. The next year would be memorable as it coincided with my departure with Nancy. It was funny as it fell exactly on Halloween, 1987. I remember it well and to this day I regret missing that party.
At this point all I did was argue with Nancy. I guess I realized that I was sick of her using me for rides and playing games with me. For her part, she just got sick of me. She met me when she was fourteen and I was sixteen. She now was older and started noticing that guys were checking her out and probably wanted to meet and be with other people. Looking back we had zero in common and as much as I didn’t see it then, now I realize just how different we are. However, at that time I was not seeing things as clearly.
Anyway, the party was to be held at this guys house that lived in Berwyn. The original plan called for me to just follow my friend Dell in his car. However, at some point during the night Nancy, spilled water on her pants, which were white. This caused them to be somewhat see-through. She asked me if I would give her a ride home so she could change. What could I do? So, I got directions from somebody (I’m still not sure who) to the house and drove Nancy home so she could change telling all my friends that I would meet them there.
I drive her home and she changes. I start talking to her Mom. Nancy and her mom were not on good terms at that point but I figured it is always good to get in with a girls mother. At some point just as Nancy was getting out of her bedroom after changing Nancy’s mom made some crack about her daughter and I laughed. This was not met with kindness by Nancy. As we left I knew it was going to be a long ride to Berwyn.
The address I was given had an address on Narragansett. As I would later find out the house was actually on Austin. This was in the days before cell phones so, I had no way of getting a hold of anyone. So, as we got to what we thought was our destination there was a warehouse were a house party was supposed to be. Not one to give up easy, I kept driving around looking for the house. All the while Nancy is yelling at me and calling me a dumb ass because I could not find the place. My Italian blood was beginning to boil.
I tried to hold it for as long as I could but she just wouldn’t stop. Finally in a fit of rage I exploded. I called her every name in the book and reminded her that if she didn’t need to go home we would have simply been bale to follow Dell as planed. She yelled back and on and on it went through the streets of Berwyn.
Eventually, I had enough. I told her I was driving her home and to shut the hell up. For once she did. Not a word was spoken the entire ride home. I pulled into her driveway, she got out of the car and for the next couple of years we barely spoke to one another. Later, when I asked my friends about the party I heard nothing but how great of a night it was. To this day eighteen years after the fact I am still pissed about missing that one. It was one of those legendary blowouts that withstands the test of time.
Looking back at that night, that fight with Nancy was a long time coming and the events of the evening were just the excuse we needed to have it out. I had held back a lot of things and I let them all out that night. She quickly moved on and was soon dating some other guy.
As for me, I spent the rest of 1987 in kind of a funk. I was enrolled at Moraine and was so screwed up about losing what I felt was my first love that I got the worst grades of my life. After like a week of not talking to Nancy I figured I would try and see if I could melt the ice. I couldn’t, as she realized I was holding her back and she just simply wanted to explore her life with new people. I eventually got over it and moved on to bigger and better things.
Some years later, Nancy and I would have a very brief moment or two of passion in a drunken induced set of circumstances. She eventually moved away which was a very good thing. I lost more than one relationship simply because I had a hard time putting my feelings for her in the past. When she moved, I finally got over it and looked at our relationship for what it was. We had some good times but we were young. Not that I know anything about women now, but I knew even less then. Nancy in her own unintentional way taught me about women and how to not deal with them. I made a lot of mistakes with her that when I look back at them, I cringe. I used those experiences and applied the lessons I learned from them to all of my future relationships including my current one. So as painful as it may have been at that time, in the end it was all worth it. Because without those lessons learned I would not be the man I am today and would not be the man my wife fell in love with.
posted by 10withmop at 1:34 PM
2 Comments:
aahh, cute...
Nicholas, I am so very proud of the man you are today. Your story was touching and soulful. Well done.
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