Chapter 1
August 14, 1989
“Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Sunshine….Happy Birthday to you!” he sang tossing bits of Reese’s peanut butter cups at me.
Here he was, just eight and a half years old, with the voice of an angel. It was amazing how much you could love the little guy and how much you could easily hate him.
“Nickolas Gene, will you quit tormenting Sunshine! It’s her birthday for God’s sake, just let her have fun!” his mother shouted as we ran around the yard.
I was just turning nine years old, and while we had only been neighbors for a short amount of time, he was the only friend I had. I would spend hours at his house. My folks didn’t have much, but we sure had a lot of love to share. Nick and his family would always include my family and I in all their family get togethers. It was more like we were family to them, than neighbors. It was the first time that any of us had experienced that type of love.
I was shy and always kind of quiet. Funny, when I was around people, a whole LOT of people, I was shy. But, when I was around Nick, he made another side of me come out. He was so cute, and so talented. Being only a mere eight years old meant that most didn’t take him seriously. He always came out as being the joker and the goof-ball.
But, Nick was a bright and sweet child. He loved his family and his friends, and was very giving. Yes, he liked to play jokes though, and found it quite amusing to torture me in some way.
Today was no different. Even though it was my birthday party, or more like my birthday get-together, he always had to be the center of attention. He was my best friend, though, and never did anything to actually hurt me. He just liked to embarrass me.
Mom always said that little boys liked to torture girls when they liked them. However, I didn’t see him like that, and as far as I was concerned, little boys were gross. Me, like boys?? Eeew! Gross!
“Nicky, if you don’t stop throwing candy at me, I’m gonna toss you in the pool!” I hollered as I chased him.
“Yeah, like a girl,” he mocked, “could toss me in the pool! You’re just a big weenie! Betcha can’t catch me!!” he said as he took off across the yard.
In an instant, I bolted after him and tackled him. “So, you don’t think a little weenie girl could toss you in? Fat chance Carter!” I said as I dragged him back across the yard.
Nick always forgot how I was a bit bigger than him at the time, and that I was able to fight back just as easily. Needless to say, he was eating his words. This little “weenie” girl not only ended up tossing him the pool…but then proceeded to tie him up to the tree in the yard and attack him with the garden hose.
Ahhh, the fun times we had. Those were the days that I treasured
with my best friend. Little did I know, he would be the one that
I was destined to love. Maybe mom was right, maybe he did like to
torture me because he really liked me.