Chapter 20

     Upon deciding to move to Springfield and continue school as a Senior, I had called the school to ask how many classes I would have to take to be able to play football and graduate at semester so I could go on to college in January.  I was told I would have to take three classes. 

     When football season was over, I started looking for a job.  I worked at McDonalds for a couple of months, but it just wasn’t what I wanted to do.  Then I started looking for a job in a bakery thinking this would be something totally new and challenging.  I always enjoyed cooking and baking at home. 

     The “first dream girl’s” uncle had just moved back to town and had bought a small bakery specializing in donuts, pastries, cookies, specialty breads, and decorated cakes.  She put in a word for me, and I got a job there.  However, Shirley was upset with the late hours I was required to work and after just a few days, made me quit. 

     My next step was to get set up to go to college the next semester.  I went to the University to apply but was told I would need a note from the school that I would be graduating from at the end of the semester, and I went to get one.  However, I was told that the rules had changed.  

     Originally, I only had to take three classes, but now they changed it to 6 classes in order to graduate by the end of the semester.  I had finished all my credits from Butler to be able to graduate but I had to take these classes in order to get a diploma from this school.  I cleaned out my locker, turned in my books, and quit school that day. 

     I called back up to Butler to try to get my diploma from there but because I had moved, they couldn’t do it.  I checked into getting my General Educational Development Test (GED), got set up to take it, and the University let me register.  

     Continuing my job search, I went to St. John’s Health Center where my family worked and applied for and got an orderly job.  Shirley found out and blocked me from getting the job because she was angry that I had quit school.  I ended up taking a job in the Hospital’s kitchen. 

     Shirley also decided to start charging me rent.  I called the local police department and asked how old I had to be in order to legally move out and was told that I could do so now at age seventeen and no one would bother me. 

     I went back to the bakery owner and asked for a loan so I could move out of home to an apartment, allowing me to come back to work for him.  He gave me the loan and I moved that day.  Between the two jobs I was working fifty to sixty hours a week, but I loved it. 

     The bakery turned out to be the most favorite job I have ever had.  The owner had hired a lifelong scratch baker that had just moved back from California.  He was great to work with and I learned a lot from him, things they just don’t teach anymore.  

     The first night in my new apartment, I took a bath in this huge claw foot bathtub.  As I sat soaking, I said to myself, “I feel like I just got out of prison”.  I had finally escaped from the drama of the Reynolds household. 

     The apartment I moved into was in a huge three-story house divided into eleven apartments right across the street on the southeast side of the University.  I was upstairs in apartment four.  It had a kitchenette with a dining area and a living room with my mattress in it.  The shared bathroom was across the hall.

     The house was full of college students.  It didn’t take long to get to know most of them.  The house manager played chess and introduced me to the chess club on campus.  A lot of serious chess games were played in those days. 

     The two gals that lived next door became like my big sisters and they kept a look out for me.  They would make sure to let me know if they approved of who I was going out with.  They were really great, and I loved them both.

     After about a year, I moved downstairs to apartment #9 which was right by the driveway, close to the street.  I could walk out of my apartment right to my car or across the street to the University.

    This was my first home on my own and I’ll always cherish my time there.  A lot of memories are there for me.

     The party had students coming from three different schools: Parkview, Glendale, and Kickapoo.  I had been invited by a friend of mine, and we were just walking around to see who was there that we knew.  I looked over and saw this guy, who had a “light on him”. 

     I prayed asking, “What is this guy all about”. 

     The answer was swift and clear, “He will be famous throughout the whole nation; yeah, even unto the whole world”.

     My instant thought was, “Who from Springfield would ever become that famous and for what?”.

     I asked the friend who was with me who he was, but he didn’t know. 

     Just then another guy walked by whom my friend might know and he asked him, “Do you know who that guy is?”

     He simply stated, “That’s Brad Pitt”.

     So, I kept him in mind, and from time to time I saw him around town.  I wondered what he would become known for and one day I heard that he had gone to Hollywood.  I knew right away that he would be successful there.