AIDS 1. Being a Junior. The Poconos. No room at the Inn. Two lives continue.

I don't even recall exactly how Laura and I rented a cabin in the Poconos, though I had a failsafe fake ID and a credit card. My parents seemed to most of the time allow me to do most things without much concern, even at 17 years old and still in high school. Laura came up from Toms River and we traveled some 75 miles or more into the Poconos in Pennsylvania. My close friend Steve in Baltimore
whom I knew from the beach (in DelMarVa they refer to "the beach" while "down the shore" is purely a "Jersey thing") at the Sea Colony and his Catholic School buds were coming to the Poconos on a school trip and I was determined we would all be there. We met on February 1, 1986 or perhaps it was the Friday evening prior, January 31 which would be logical. (I only know this because I wrote it on the back of photos. I hardly have that good of memory!)

Laura & Steve

We all had a great time, to my best recollection, but I had to get them back to their hotel by a certain time. I do recall it was also a drive and I was the driver. In the best of conditions, I am sure that while I remember perhaps drinking less and I was never really a pot smoker, that still didn't mean I should be driving. Plus, I had 3 wildly messed up teens in the car with me. Laura, and I don't recall why, did not come along.  But, it was also snowing, in fact rather heavily. The Poconos, like many mountainous communities, have narrow roads that have sharp twists and bends, are most often very dark and full of opportunities to run off a cliff, into the side of a mountain, hit an animal or simply a tree, never mind another car. Those are most often less frequent. Roads can freeze easily and often do as the elevation isn't really that high, with Mt. Pocono just shy of 2,000 feet and so rain mixed with snow, snowy/icy conditions are common. In short, it is dangerous to drive there. For that matter, it is dangerous to ski there. But that is another post I will eventually write.

I got the guys back in time, said "goodbye" and went to head out to return to our cabin. The road was closed due to the snow. I have no way of leaving. So, I go back up to the guys' room and they sneak me in and I fall asleep there for a little while until one of the chaperones kicks me out. I explain my situation and he doesn't care. So much for fuckin' Catholic charity! What about the life and dignity of a fellow human being? I always cast myself more mature, but this guy also knew I was the same age as everyone else he was watching over so perhaps that might be also taken into consideration. Otherwise, why were they allowed to go with me to begin with?  I go downstairs and awaken the innkeeper and explain but he simply explained the inn was full. I also explained that my girlfriend was in a cabin by herself and I had no way to reach her. I can't remember whether he finally let me call the cabin main number or not but either way there was no getting a message to Laura. She didn't know where I was all night. I asked the innkeeper to be able to just crash in the lobby but he told me I must leave. To where? So I got in my Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royale let the heat get real hot, then shut the car off and fell asleep. Roughly 30 minutes later, I repeated the same. I did this throughout the rest of the night not to run out of gas and not to literally freeze to death. 

Laura was screaming and crying when I returned, understandably. I am not sure I wasn't somewhat tearful. The experience certainly scared the hell out me. I do remember the drive home seeming more treacherous even though most of the roads had been salted and plowed. But that is what sobriety and sunlight will do to you. 

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That month Playboy Magazine, which beyond hot naked girls did have journalists and often strong, albeit controversial articles, came out with their Viewpoint:  Can sex survive AIDS?