There are some people that you know forever.. and some people come and go quickly through your life. Jackie was one of those who only were in my life for a few years and yet she still holds a piece of my heart.
We met during 8th grade but I can’t remember exactly how. In fact, after we were best friends, neither of us could remember how we met. All I remember is every day we would pass each other going to third period and we had this contest to see who could kick the other one first. It was really beneath me to do such an odd game but it seemed like the only connection we had. We would laugh and kick, and then slightly get mad at the other one for kicking so hard.
By the second week, seeing that my shins had tons of bruises on them I called a truce. She gladly conceded the game and after that we were best friends. Odd how those kinds of connections are made. I don’t remember having her in any of my classes but we must have somewhere. I only remember walking with her down hallways to various classes and having a locker near hers.
She was so different than I was which created another amazing fact that we got along. I was a young Christian that had standards but wasn’t preachy, and she was one of the ‘hoods’. You know the type.. they would go out to the woods at breaks to smoke cigarettes or joints. I don’t remember ever feeling judgmental towards her for having such a different lifestyle even though it was not something I wanted. Obviously she trusted me too.
I don’t remember ever talking to her about my faith or what I stood for. But somehow she just knew I was different and I think somehow it frustrated her even though she accepted it. I knew she smoked weed, and so one day she asked if I wanted to try it. I smiled and said no, while in my mind the idea flashed through making me wonder if I should. She continued her requesting saying that if I tried it once she wouldn’t ask me again. The more she asked, though, the more stubborn I became. We were right there in the middle of the hallway at school, with kids walking by us watching her get down on her knees begging me to try it once. By then I was laughing at her and she was laughing at me. I never did try it and she was fine with that.
One afternoon after PE I had decided to not shower completely and left my hair to wash later. Jackie walked up to me and asked me if my hair was wet. “No” I replied, “It’s just grease from not washing it today.” She died laughing. We continued along the hallway while she stopped every other person asking them if they thought my hair was wet, and then proceeded to laugh while informing them it was not wet.. only greasy! I never let another day in my life pass without clean hair, even to this day due to that incident.
Due to the fact that she was a ‘hood’ it was in her requirements to be rowdy in class and thus got detention regularly. One such day she was frustrated by the action because she said /this/ time it wasn’t her fault. I told her I would ride our horse up to the campus after detention and let her ride. Our property was situated some distance behind the school, but close enough to ride the horse up. That was a excellent afternoon riding around the football field with her.
She was a person I looked up to for worldly information though. She had the boyfriends, even if they were at times a whole foot shorter than her. She was making out in front of the buses saying goodbye to her boyfriend while I stood on the sideline watching and wondering when I would get a boyfriend to say goodbye to. After one such time she walked up and I boldly asked if she had been ‘frenching’ him. She laughed and said, “Yeah.. and I think he was chewing gum!” That was the epitome of grossness but still much cooler than not having a boyfriend at all.
She was never able to do things after school with me as she always had to head home to baby-sit her siblings. They lived in the poorest section of town that had the reputation of drugs and abuse. She hated her home life and felt totally used by her single mother which might have been a reason she choose to get detention and not have to go home every night. She never had a day off, or even a weekend free, unless it was only for the friends in the neighborhood. The mom had to work, or go overnight with her various guys. I don’t think they had much food as she was always thin and hardly had money for lunch ever. She said smoking pot helped her not be hungry.
Billy Graham came to town and I invited Jackie to come with us. She came and seemed to listen through the sermon. Afterwards, during the invitation, she asked what they were passing out down on the field. I explained they were giving out bibles and study guides for those who wanted to follow Jesus. She asked if we could go down there to see what was going on and talk to the people. I told her that she shouldn’t if she wasn’t serious, which dampened her mood and so she said.. nevermind. I regretted what I had said for a long time after that.
By night grade my folks had decided to move down to the Dominican Republic after Dad’s retirement so that he could be a principal at a private school down there. One of the only times I remember Jackie coming over to my house was during the time we were preparing to leave. She helped me pack up and threw tons of things out that I thought I needed, and she decided I didn’t. As odd things go, she is the one that taught me that Jesus wasn’t actually born on Christmas, and also how to move my feet while I danced. I actually asked my mom if we could take Jackie to the DR with us, and although my mom said sure, Jackie’s mom said she needed her to baby sit.
We left for the DR and Jackie and I exchanged letters every once in a while. Actually, I wrote her frequently and once in a while she would write me back. The letters were always missing me, and telling me that her life was still the same. Until one letter that she wrote explaining she had been to a church, and had given her life to Jesus. I was amazed and excited for her. I didn’t hear much from her after that during that year.
When I came home for the summer I looked her up. She wasn’t living at home anymore and none of our mutual friend knew where she had gone to. I tried for several weeks to find her. I called so many different people and numbers and yet no one had any specific news about her. I drove to the store with my brother and had a small conversation with God on the way and while I sat in the car while he went into the store. I asked him to just take care of her and keep her safe. I guess I just gave her to Him in a way. No more than two minutes after I finished that conversation, I looked up and there she was walking down the sidewalk in front of our car. I jumped out of the car and yelled at her. What a fun reunion. She said she would come over to my house the next day, explained where she lived, and gave me her number. I waited all day long and she never showed up so I finally called her. She was living with her boyfriend and said that he hadn’t wanted her to leave. So, kicking myself for not taking the initiative first,
I went over to see her the very next day. We sat on her bed and talked about her life, running away from home, living with her boyfriend, and trying to walk with Jesus as best as she could. We hugged each other and cried. Her boyfriend looked at us suspiciously from the other room which made us laugh and cry all the more! She was still skinny and still smoking pot. She informed me that she usually just lived on candy bars and a coke during the day.
After that day we promised to stay in touch and I would have gone back to see her again but we were leaving to go back to the DR in the next week. That was the last time I saw her. We did write a few times to each other during that year, and at the summer I was so very excited to try and look her up. I was living at my sisters at the time and was calling around to see if I could find her. I talked to my one sister about it and told her how frustrating it was trying to connect. She asked me to come with her into my bedroom and she closed the door. She sat down beside me on the bed and handed me a newspaper clipping. She said she didn’t know how else to tell me.
The clipping told how a young girl Jackie Plante, of Kent, age 16 had been hitch-hiking and had been raped and murdered. They had found her bones in a patch of woods up near where her mom used to live. I cried.
I still miss you Jackie!
