In Love With A Voice

In 1968 I was a sophomore at the Eastern Kentucky School of Partying in scenic Richmond , Kentucky. The world seemed pretty simple as we were trying to obtain an education and dodge the draft that was becoming increasingly close to the carefree days of our lives. Robert McNamara was becoming as much a part of our lives as Robert Martin , the President of our college. Now Robert Martin undoubtedly is the driving force that made old EKU what it has become today, much unlike the current ,smiling lady attorney whose sole objective seems to be hogging the photos in the Alumni Magazine (37 times last issue). It was an age of innocence at a risk of sounding trite, but it definitely was an uncomplicated time of our lives. Most of our time was taken in going to class often enough to keep our 2-S deferrments, and to see just how many love connections could be made on limited time and finances. There were many different groups and subgroups that looked upon socializing in diverse ways. There were the Frat boys who did everything together. These fair haired wonders partied together, attended classes together, and picked fights together. I always liked to get one isolated from his brothers and then look him in the eyes. They were not comfortable one on one and usually found an excuse to exit the situation. They generally dated the Sorority babes with the bouffant hair and the drink till you pass- out attitude. Think Marlo Thomas or Mary Tyler Moore At Specks with a beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other. I worried that sometimes they would pair up and get their diamond studded pins hung together, but somehow they survived. My own world and that of my friends was a lot different than that of the frats. The golden haired boys in Weejuns were the top and we were the near bottom feeders. The real lowlifes were the Rotsie Lifers but that's another story. One of my casual compadres was named Eddie, and he was a business major from Indiana whose love in life was playing cards all night and smoking unfiltered Camel cigarettes. Eddie , like the rest of us in Todd Hall never changed his sheets but once a twice a semester and never made his bed, which was the card table. Imagine a dirty grey table cloth with ground in cigarette ashes, pizza stains, and you 've got a visual image of Eddie's sheets. Eddie himself was somewhat a clean cut Jerry Garcia who tended to dress in Madras shirts and levi jeans. Think maybe Richard Dreyfuss in American Grafitti and you have mostly Eddie. One memorable night Eddie and the boys were playing euchre and the phone rang; Eddie answered and she had him from hello, again coining a phrase. Now Eddie wasn't much of a ladies man in the broadest sense,but the room sat back in awe as he skillfully converted a wrong number into a blind date the next night, which coincidentally was Thursday, the biggest night for socializing on a suitcase campus. We half-heartedly tried to tell Eddie that he didn't know what his blind date looked like, yet to no avail as Eddie was enraptured by the sound of her voice," The Voice Of An Angel"!WE tried to look her up in the yearbook but she wasn't there, another ominous omen, but Eddie wouldn't listen. He was so enamored with his success with a woman that he lost at cards the rest of the night. He crawled in between his filthy ash-encrusted sheets that night with visions of an angel in his mind.Now the truth of the matter is that even today college campuses have students that everyone knows by sight as either beautiful sights or the extreme opposite. Now EKU at that point had a couple of girls that through no fault of their own are the living barometers of how ugly a woman can be. Unkind as it may be, men have to have things to compare other things by. As Eddie headed out to Walters hall that eventful fall evening in 1968, we all wished him the best , yet with dread in our hearts, for Eddie's picture was in the yearbook and we knew no Babe would have accepted a date with him. Simple as that. Think Eagles" There's going to be a Heart Ache Tonight".Well as I said we almost christened him with champaigne as he departed Todd Hall in his crisp madras shirt , his Bass lace ups buffed to a glow and his Camel pack(s) bulging from every pocket. Eddie was our man on a mission, probably the second date in his college career but with the hope of all humanity as he swaggered over to Walters Hall in a Cloud of Camel Smoke and spitting shreds of tobacco. True to form the Maiden came down at his bidding, and true to form it was one of the two aforementioned coeds that the campus judged ugliness by. She said' "Are You Eddie"? He was so shocked he honestly said"Yes". I would have said NO but I wouldn't have been ther in the first place. They started downtown and nature came to the rescue. A fall drizzle started and neither had an umbrella, whereas the girl told Eddie she had a friend in Clay Hall that she could run in and borrow an Umbrella from. Eddie , being an Indiana gentleman, agreed and waited as she went upstairs to get the thing. Eddie, again being the gentleman did the honorable thing and ran like hell back to his dorm as soon as she was out of sight. He entered the room where the card game was in full force with a red faced, out of breath state. Eddie wasn't used to physical activity and had run a quarter mile at record speed , much as if the Headless Horseman was after him. In hindsight the Headless Horseman was probably more attractive. We all learned a lesson that night,what I'm not exactly sure, but Eddie slipped into that card game afterwards just as easily as he crawled into those filthy sheets every night. Somewhere Eddie is probably a grandfather who has a woman that changes sheets once a week ,needed or not, and who once took a walk on the wildside. Thanks Eddie for the memory.