Easy

In "The Great Gatsby," Nick says, "You can't repeat the past."

Gatsby is incredulous: "Can't repeat the past. . . Why of course you can!"

We begin to think that tomorrow will be just like today. Or worse, we don't recognize the irony in Fitzgerald:

“Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter— tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther…And one fine morning—”

Try it sometime.

* * * * *

Our lives together was something normal, a routine which I never recognized. Sherri worked at the movie theater nights, and I would see her when she got off. We did not go out much. Occasionally we would go to see one of her friends for dinner, but there was no danger or excitement in it. I spent time with her brothers, and soon I was the new male figure in their lives. I would take them out and play ball with them and tease them and quiz them. It was at their house that we spent the most time. On weekends, we went to the new spectacle--the indoor mall.

Going to the mall. I shiver when I write that now. But like everyone else, we got into our cars and drove to the new phenomenon. There were four anchor stores at each cardinal point--a Sears, a J.C. Penneys, and two local department stores, Iveys and Burdines. In between these stores on two levels were the specialty stores. I was against all of it, of course. I talked about the lack of fresh air as we leaned against the second floor railing and felt the floor vibrate beneath our feet. Yes, this was horrible, I would say as I stood watching the pretty girls go giggling by in threes and fours. Then we would go to the Mr. Dunderbach's and get delicious sandwiches and beer sitting below the hanging meats beside the cold case filled with mysteries like blood sausage and head cheese.

We were feeling like adults. There was something in that. We had entered the world. We had duties and responsibilities, and we kept them. I felt it all deeply. This was life, an every day life you could count on. There was family and there was school, and there was Sherri. We had been prepared for this through years of training, images of smiling women taking homemade pies from the oven, men raking the yard, kids sitting on the floor doing their homework. It was easy.