1980's

Chapter 6 - Graduation and Beyond

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Link: Every Day Is Your Last Title Page and Description

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Jack told me a story once about things that he said happened later that night, but Rich insisted that he was exaggerating, so I don't know what happened after that, really. Jack says Anne made a scene, trying to tell Jack to leave and quit embarrassing himself by taking his mother to the Prom, but Rich says she only wanted to make peace now that school was ending. I don't know what the truth is, but I suspect Rich was just defending her out of his sense of loyalty. He could be like that sometimes. Besides, he still put almost all the blame on Wendy and his mom. He never said so, but I think he always believed that Wendy broke up he and Anne, not vice versa.

Their graduation was apparently as uneventful as they usually are. There was apparently a party afterwards, but both of them said it was boring and not worthy of a story. Just things that happened, but then I think a lot of life is that way... just things that happen.

In the weeks that followed, Jack was working at his physical therapy. He said he was concerned that the Corps wouldn't take him due to his injury, but in the end, with Rich's help, he passed MEPS and, with his mother's signature, headed off to Paris Island in July while he was still seventeen.

Boot is Boot, so telling you what it would have been like for them isn't really telling you about them. It wasn't until they came home after MCRD and before heading out for SOI that things got interesting.

Chapter 5 - Back to School

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Rich didn't ever tell me much about the time he spent in jail. He just would say, 'It wasn't that bad, really.' and change the subject. When Jack told the police that he hit Rich first and refused to press charges on the assault, the DA dropped the pending charges. Jack told me he was contacted by the DA while in the hospital saying they had filed assault charges against him, but Rich pled the fifth because testifying against Jack would incriminate himself, leaving no witnesses and a really weak case. So in the end, the whole matter was dropped and neither one was convicted of anything.

Jack spent the next three months in physical therapy. The only thing that kept them afloat was the money that Frank Hargrave gave them to help out. Rich said his dad felt responsible for the whole thing because he did nothing to stop Judith from playing matchmaker with the neighborhood floozy, not caring if Jack got hurt in the process.

He took classes between therapy sessions by state appointed tutor until he was able to come back to school, but by then it was early April and there was less than ten weeks of school left. Richard had classes to make up from his jail time, so he had to quit his job and go back home to have any chance of graduating with his class.

Rich told me the most about when Jack finally was able to go back to school. Jack didn't like talking about it, but he had the best stories about the things going on outside of school.

Chapter 4 - How Low Can You Go

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Richard moved out of his parent's house in October of eighty-eight, just a few days after his eighteenth birthday while he still had most of his senior year left. He moved into Jack's house and got a part-time job after school to help with money. Jack used to say that after they moved in together was when their friendship saw its first real test.

It was a really hard time for them. Rich was working, Jack was depressed a lot of the time, and Rich's parents were calling him every day asking him to come home. Rich told me that by Christmas break things had hit their lowest point. Most of the details though I got from Jack and Erica.

High school is supposed to be about learning to deal with real life. Jack and Richard only got three years of that before they had to start living it. That year seemed to be a living hell that nearly ruined their friendship, and more.

Chapter 3 - Bumps and Bruises

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I think Jack was really in love with Wendy. They dated almost four months before she ended it. Rich said that he thought Jack would never recover. It absolutely destroyed him. Jack just never talked about it. I think... I think it just hurt too much, even years later. He never would say her name, even when he would talk about it.

Rich told me what happened though. Wendy dated Jack through the rest of May and June and into July. Then her parents took her on a month-long trip to Florida. When she got back, right before school started, she told him that she'd found someone else and broke up with him. Rich said she was cruel about it, telling him that he was too much of a wimp for her and she needed a strong man. I don't know if it's true or not. Rich hated her for hurting him, so he might have just been bitter and wanted to say mean things about her. I guess now only one person knows the truth... and she'll never tell.

So Jack and Rich started their senior year of high school on a bad note, and it just kept getting worse from there.

Chapter 2 - The Dance

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When Jack used to talk about high school, it was always on the same subject. Girls! Jack would say he took a different girl to every school dance or party, but then Rich would point out that it was because he could never get a girl to say yes twice! Poor Jack! He tried so hard to fit in with the popular kids that Rich hung out with, and Rich would always make sure that Jack was included.

See, pretty soon, the other kids figured out that if you wanted Rich to come to your party, Jack had to be invited, too. Rich would say Jack never held him back though... he still was invited to all the parties and dances and they still hung out with his regular crowd, so you can't say Jack hurt Rich's social life, but Rich's friendship almost certainly helped Jack's, immensely.

I remember this story that Jack used to tell about their Junior Prom. Rich denied parts of it, but I think Jack was telling the truth. I could always tell when Jack was BSing his way through a story. Erica told me a lot of things about that night that tell me it was Jack that was being honest. It started a chain of events that would have life-changing effects, but then Jack would say that was true about everything that happens to a person.

Chapter 1 - Where It All Began

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I met Jack and Rich when we were all three posted at Alameda Naval Air Station just across the bay from San Francisco. Jack was a total clown who hit on everything with breasts! We called him Corporal Strikeout because he couldn't get a date to save his life, but just kept right on swinging! From what everyone told me, it'd always been that way, too. Rich, on the other hand, was attractive, smooth, and never lacked for female attention. I would have hated him, except he was just so nice!

They both grew up in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which is funny when you consider that later Rich would move into a house near Pittsberg, New Hampshire, but I'm getting ahead of myself! Rich used to tell this funny story about how he met Jack. Of course, Jack being Jack, he had to add his own twist to it every time Rich would tell it. Rich's story would always be the same, but Jack added bits that were always different. Not that he would change his story mind you, but it was like each time Rich told it, Jack would remember some new little tidbit to add to it.

So this is how it all began.

Every Day is Your Last

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Jack Dunning was just a poor kid from Pittsburgh, no better or worse than any other. When he met Richard, it seemed to be a one-sided friendship; Jack needing Richard much more than the other way around. As the years passed however, it became clear to them both just how important their friendship was, eventually culminating in both learning the hardest lesson in life; that every day is a gift and you should treat each one as though it were your last.

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