Un-happy New Year

Regis Philbin seemed extra happy to be the host of Time Square's 2004 New Years celebration, regardless of Dick Clark's massive stroke he suffered sometime before the event.  There was a sense of sadness on the television that night, seeing that Dick could not join the party, but everyone still managed to have a swell time. 


December 31, 2003 was an extra cold night in the little town of Blythe, CA.  However, the cold winds didn't keep all the trailer park people from lighting off fireworks and taking too many shots.  For some reason the drunker the women got, the sexier they thought they could dance. 

Being 12 years old at the time, I would usually find this very amusing.  But instead of having a jolly 'ol time waiting for the clock to hit midnight, I had the feeling of a million spiders crawling in my stomach doing all they could to make me throw up my guts.

My family and my side-kick Krystal's family would usually have millions of Party Poppers lined up on the house deck waiting for the new year to arrive.  Our dads would normally have lighters ready to start up our Sparklers, and our moms would usually have their brooms out to pick up the remains of the Snappers that we threw at people's feet in celebration.  Those were at least the memories I kept from every other new year I had in my life.

I had the gut feeling that something was terribly wrong, but Krystal wanted to still go out and "people watch" on the golf cart.  Being at the river was one of the most rare and exciting occasions because 12 year olds were allowed to drive around the park, so of course we always took advantage of this "grown-up" experience.  I nonchalantly followed her direction, even though both of our parents had been on the telephone discussing something seemingly important in the back room of the Thompson's trailer all day with the door locked. 

It made no sense to me that both of our little brother's were having such a great time waiting for the ball to drop on the TV in Times Square, I had to get out of the trailer, it was making me sick knowing the parents were obviously conversing about something very important. 

Krystal seemed tired, but crazy as usual.  She was anxious to drink the Martinelli's sparkling cider that was sitting on the kitchen table once we drove back to the trailer.  She kept talking about how much fun our quad ride to the big dune would be the next morning, and I could tell she was in high spirits even though I knew she had the same horrible gut feeling as me.

The ball finally dropped in New York, and screams were coming from all around the park.  Krystal and I were jumping up and down with our brothers and my little sister blowing on Dollar Tree Kazoos.  Our parents finally came out and joined in the celebration.  Everyone was hugging, kissing, and wishing a happy new year. There seemed to be a little extra love that night, and I sensed it was because the Thompson family was going to have a rough road ahead of them that new year. 

For some reason I could not focus on all the hugs and whistles and fireworks.  When I saw Krystal's dad hug her with all his might, I thought back to a few months before when she made me feel all the lumps on her throat.  I knew that our parents must have been discussing a dreadful call from the doctor.  With some kind of sixth sense I felt that this fun night would end shortly and we would fall asleep with tears in our eyes.