Camden, Maine part#1

Living in Camden was really different. I didn't need to worry about waking my dad up for work, helping my brother get ready for school, or anything else. Just me. My grandma made sure I ate breakfast everyday. Usually started with half a grapefruit, then two eggs, toast, bacon or sausage. On a few rare occasions, I would make myself a bowl of cereal. I wasn't much of a breakfast eater, but this is how it was done. I enjoyed it because it was special. Roy was a breakfast man and well, I could be too. We'd talk about school, what I liked doing, and other stuff. It was weird to have someone actually listen and care.
The people in Maine were very friendly. It was strange to have strangers welcoming me to their town. "Hey, you're Inez and Roy's grandson, aren't ya?" I got this everywhere I went. For a little while, I thought I had done something wrong. When everybody knows who you are, you're usually in trouble. But this actually became a good thing. I quickly developed my own identity. It was nice to be Dave. Just Dave. No past, just present and future. Things were looking up for this kid.
My grandma wanted me to have good influences. She was concerned with the way I was being raised. She never knew anything that actually happened and I kept everything to myself. One of the first things she did was to introduce me to the Schmidtgalls. They had a son, Todd who was my age. They were also very involved with the local church. First Congregational Church of Camden.

As a matter of fact, most of my friends went to this church. The families had gone there for years and they actually liked it. I had been to a lot of churches off and on, but now I was actually a regular attendant. I learned the hymns. I learned where certain books were in the Bible. I was asked if I'd like to become a member of the church. My friends all went here so I said sure. I went to membership classes and even got baptized. I didn't really know what baptism was about. I just thought it was a requirement. I learned a lot about God, Jesus, the history of the church, when the different groups started and when they branched off, but that was it. I had believed that there was a God, but always felt as if He was unapproachable. He had favorites and I sure wasn't one of them. I wonder if He knew who I was. I remember believing that He created people, but I think I felt that He created people and then left them to their own resources. Maybe He was hoping the parents would do their parts and He could do the stuff He needed to do. Make new people, welcome people into Heaven, create new planets and other stuff. It kind of seemed like everyone else thought the same. Their lives were slightly different outside of church. They did the right things in church and for the most part, it helped to shape their lives. Some were better than others and they didn't put on their church faces. They were genuine believers. They scared me. I felt that I had no shot at getting into Heaven. If God did grade on a curve, I'd better do some "extra credit".
My friend Todd became a junior deacon with the church. We were both about 14 and he was working on becoming a full fledged deacon. I wasn't sure what that meant. He was also my drinking buddy. He knew people who had access to liquor and I begin underage drinking. I'd spent a lot of weekend nights at his house and we'd sneak out and meet up with some other church friends. A few times, we went out to the harbor and went on Tom dad's boat. The dad kept a little dingy with a motor on it that was always tied to the dock. We would take that and go on to the dad's fishing boat. He kept his good stuff on the boat. Tom's dad or maybe it was someone else's always had homemade brandies or other stuff. We'd stumble back home and sneak back in. We'd wake up in the morning, eat breakfast and wait for someone to take us into town. Later, when I got my bike I'd ride over to different peoples homes.
 Todd was kind of nerdy in some ways. He was a math whiz and a bit of an overachiever. He had some cool moments too. This town was kind of in a time warp. All the kids looked like it was the late 60's, early 70's. Everyone was listening to Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, The Who, etc. Todd was a big fan of The Doors and probably the only male fan of Adam Ant in Camden. I think only a handful of people knew who Adam Ant was. With his mom's help, he came to school like this one Halloween.
The girls went crazy. Some thought he was the real Adam Ant. The girls
thought he was the cutest guy in the school and their boyfriends wanted to beat him up. They thought he had come out of the closet, but that was the furthest thing from the truth. He even was talking with a fake British accent. The next day, everything was back to normal. Well, people still talked about it. I think for a couple of weeks, but then it was back to normal.
Other friends got into Dungeons and Dragons. I didn't. I didn't have the patience.