HAPPY BIRTHDAY- JANUARY 21, 1968

The memory of this birthday is as sharp as a barbers straight razor, and I’ll tell you why.

I was trekking down Main Street in Boulder Creek. I was walking to the end of town to hitch a ride out to the Felton Train Station, to go see the boy friend.

I was dilly dallying in my mind as I strolled down the sidewalk. I stopped into Erba and Son’s grocery, to pick up a treat to take out to the Station. We were always smoking dope, and the munchies were like a virus, that moved from one person to the other, wrapped in a cloak of blue smoke. Food was always a welcome visitor.

When I walked out the door, I noticed the newspaper stand.

I went over to read the headlines in the paper, just to see what was happening in the world, that would be a benchmark for my life in the coming year.

The headline was:

VIETNAM — THE BATTLE OF KHE SANH BEGINS

That was all I saw. Vietnam. That was the name of the country where my friends twin brother had died. I took note. And moved on. Wherever Vietnam was, had nothing to do with me. And I simply moved on down the street, wrapped in thoughts of sex, drugs and rock and roll.

I did not know it then, but I was walking into a future of marches, riots, tear gas, murder and meyhem. I did not know, that I was walking into the heart of bedlam.

More to follow…