Summertime in the South
The best thing to do in a southern summer, is to sit on the porch regardless of the heat and just exist. No phone, no book, just a drink and a chair— at least, that’s how he felt about summer. Adam didn’t have a job or a camp to go to like all his friends, and he certainly didn’t want to fall into drugs like so many of his peers did. So without fail, every day of his vacation Adam sat on his front porch and existed. He could see the pool from his porch, where the cute lifeguard worked, the lifeguard who graduated a year above him and was best friends with Adams brother. Sometimes Adam let himself imagine a future with him, if he didn’t live in such a small, close-minded town.
Mostly, during the long days of nothing, Adam did daydream— not just about cute lifeguards or working air conditions— about school and after. Senior year was fast approaching. On the surface, he couldn’t wait to graduate, to get away from the twenty two kids he’d been in class with since kindergarten. He couldn’t wait to leave behind all the racist old men and bossy old ladies at his dads church. Sure, he would miss the football games and the team he’d been on since freshman year, basketball and baseball too. Maybe he would miss track... (although he was never very good at running). But under the excitement, he knew he was scared. Adam often found himself wondering; “Can I really survive on my own?”. He knew his parents expected him to graduate college, find a girl and settle down; they’d only told him so about a thousand times. His parents wanted him to stay in town, live on under their legacy, but Adam didn’t want that. He knew he wasn’t meant for the small town world. He dreamed of big cities, of mountains and lakes, not fields upon fields of wheat. Adam wanted to travel, to write, and to live. But his parents would hate that... he also didn’t want to let them down.
Summer in the south means a lot of things. It means harvest and football practice. It means swimming and long days with friends. But for some, for the very few of us, it holds a different meaning. It means dread and fear. It means future, and whether that light is bright... or whether it goes out completely.