Purple Daze Read online

  Table of Contents

  Praise

  Title Page

  Dedication

  It’s 1965

  Ziggy

  Mickey

  Ziggy

  Cheryl

  Nancy

  Ziggy

  Cheryl

  Don

  Cheryl

  Year Of The Snake

  Nancy

  Malcolm X

  Lysergic Acid Diethylamide

  Cheryl

  Ziggy

  Cheryl

  Mickey

  Don

  Bloody Sunday

  “How Long, Not Long”

  Ziggy

  Cheryl

  Nancy

  From President Johnson

  Cheryl

  Nancy

  Ziggy

  Nancy

  Cheryl

  SDS

  Ziggy

  Cheryl

  Mickey

  Nancy

  Ziggy

  Phil

  Suggestion Box Room 206

  Cheryl

  Selective Service System Order To Report For Induction

  Nancy

  Phil

  Cheryl

  Nancy

  National Liberation Front

  Cheryl

  Mickey

  Cheryl

  Don

  Prayer For Peace

  FBI’s Golden Record Club

  Ziggy

  Mickey

  Ziggy

  Rock ’n’ Roll

  Cheryl

  Nancy

  Don

  Ziggy

  Boot Camp

  Blackboard Room 206

  Nancy

  Don

  Cheryl

  Ziggy

  Nancy

  Phil

  Ziggy

  Cheryl

  Napalm B

  Don

  Phil

  Nancy

  Cheryl

  Phil

  Nancy

  Vietnam Service Medal

  Ziggy

  Don

  Phil

  Cheryl

  Don

  Ziggy

  Cheryl

  Nancy

  Phil

  Don

  Ziggy

  Mickey

  Cheryl

  Mickey

  Don

  Phil

  Mickey

  Cheryl

  Don

  Mickey

  Phil

  Mickey

  Ziggy

  Suggestion Box Room 206

  Phil

  Nancy

  Mickey

  Phil

  Ziggy

  Phil

  Mickey

  Ziggy

  Phil

  Mickey

  Cheryl

  Phil

  Cheryl

  House Of Representatives

  Mickey

  Phil

  Cheryl

  Mickey

  Phil

  Cheryl

  Mickey

  Ziggy

  Mickey

  Ziggy

  Cheryl

  Don

  Ziggy

  Cheryl

  Phil

  International Day of Protest

  Ho Chi Minh Trail

  Mickey

  Phil

  Mickey

  Cheryl

  Don

  Ziggy

  Cheryl

  Norman Morrison

  Mickey

  Phil

  Thanksgiving

  Phil

  Alice’s Restaurant

  Nancy

  Da Nang Vietnam

  Phil

  Cheryl

  Ziggy

  Chu Lai Vietnam

  Medical Evacuation

  Mickey

  Ziggy

  Phil

  Don

  Cheryl

  Phil

  Cheryl

  Ziggy

  Phil

  Mickey

  Cheryl

  Ziggy

  Phil

  Cheryl

  Phu Bai Vietnam

  Mickey

  Ziggy

  Phil

  Nancy

  Cheryl

  Ziggy

  Phil

  Cheryl

  Mickey

  Dust-Off

  Ziggy

  Phil

  Cheryl

  Mickey

  Ziggy

  Nancy

  Cheryl

  Phil

  Mickey

  Ziggy

  Phil

  Cheryl

  It’s 1966

  1965 Timeline

  Acknowledgements

  Copyright Page

  “Part history, part teen survival, Shahan drops you into the Vietnam era with compelling authenticity and emotional force.”

  —WENDELIN VANDRAANEN author of THE RUNNING DREAM

  “I stayed up half the night reading Purple Daze and didn’t want it to end. Ziggy, Mickey, Cheryl, and Phil have found a permanent home in my heart.”

  —VALERIE HOBBS author of SHEEP, California Young Reader Medal

  “Sherry Shahan took me right back to the 60’s with this deftly-written, politically charged novelin-verse. Be warned—Purple Daze will put a spell on you, too!”

  —RON KOERTGE award-winning author of STRAYS

  To Phillip Cole ... because you waited.

  It’s 1965

  andThe Sound of Music wins

  the Academy Award for Best Picture

  andPresident Johnson commits another

  50,000 troops to the war in Vietnam

  andThe Los Angeles Dodgers defeat

  the Minnesota Twins 4–3

  in the World Series

  andJohnson increases the monthly

  draft call from 17,000 to 35,000

  andThe Righteous Brothers hit the

  charts with “Unchained Melody”

  andJohnson says, “Nor will we bluster,

  bully or flaunt our power. But we will

  not surrender, nor will we retreat.”

  andBoys and girls play with fuzzy-haired

  Troll Dolls. Even Lady Bird Johnson

  has one.

  Ziggy

  We’re slumped on the front seat of a

  low-slung Pontiac, cherry paint job.

  Cheryl pokes the ashtray for butts,

  finds the key. “Wanna go for a spin?”

  “If we can be back by sixth period—

  I did my homework.”

  I have the wheel in one hand, a Marlboro

  in the other. We jerk down Ventura Boulevard

  in second gear, and I’m yelling above Janis Joplin,

  “Wait’ll Mickey finds out we stole his car!”

  Cheryl drums the dashboard laughing

  because I don’t have a learner’s permit.

  GRAND THEFT AUTO

  That’s what we tell the old guy we pick up

  hitchhiking in front of Woolworth’s.

  He looks pale and asks us to pull over.

  We couldn’t stop now

  even if we tried.

  Mickey

  So what if the guys joke about Ziggy.

  Stacked. What a rack. Tight sweaters

  look bitchin’ on her.

  She puts out too

  even though her house has this choice view

  of San Fernando Valley and her step-dad

  plays in a band at Disneyland.

  If I ever see a T-shirt that says,

  SLUTS RULE, I’ll buy it for her.

  Ziggy

  Guys like me because they

  know I go all the way.

 
It’s the only reason Mickey

  takes me out.

  Bet you didn’t think I knew that.

  Cheryl

  The potato’s been in the freezer overnight.

  The Animals wail “We Gotta Get Out of This Place.”

  I pull a bottle of Sloe Gin from the cupboard,

  hidden behind a box of Lucky Charms.

  Ziggy cuts the potato in two,

  carves Ziggy + Mickey into a half,

  and makes an earlobe sandwich.

  “Is this gonna hurt?”

  I sip and dip the needle.

  “Mine didn’t even bleed.”

  The door bell rings, my next door neighbor.

  I know his daughters, in fifth and sixth grade,

  straight hair without ironing it.

  Booze wafts through the screen door.

  “What’s up?” I ask.

  His wing tips skim the WELCOME mat as he

  lunges forward, slamming through the screen,

  knocking my ninety-six pounds backward.

  An old geezer with a tongue,

  his hand on Don’s senior pin.

  “Cheryl?” Ziggy calls from the kitchen.

  “Hurry up! My ear’s freezing!”

  Nancy

  Ms. Hawes dresses like us:

  Wool skirts. Mohair cardigans.

  Sling-back flats. Seamless nylons,

  nude.

  Her skirts are minis.

  But no one makes her kneel in the hall

  to see if her hem touches the floor.

  Here’s another thing: Ms. Hawes uses a

  blue pencil for corrections, never red, and

  doesn’t call on you unless your hand’s raised.

  There’s a can of molasses on her desk. I saw

  her in the cafeteria pouring it over fried potatoes

  like Walter Cunningham in To Kill a Mockingbird.

  When we read Lord of the Flies she passed a bag of pork rinds.

  Before beginning Lolita she brought in Cokes.

  Cheryl throws up when Humbert Humbert

  talks about sin, soul, and the tip of his tongue.

  Weird.

  Ziggy

  Some numb-nuts poured strawberry

  Jell-O in the toilet by the Girls’

  Vice Principal’s office.

  She called the West Valley Police Station.

  What if someone had slit her wrist or

  had a miscarriage or something?

  Talk about immature.

  Get a boyfriend!

  Cheryl

  I finished Lolita in a bubble bath,

  all three-hundred-thirty-six pages.

  I cried

  and

  cried

  and

  cried

  and

  .

  .

  .

  Don

  Dear Cheryl—

  Today we have a substitute in Biology,

  so I’m writing you a letter.

  When you confide in your girlfriends

  instead of me—I feel left out,

  unimportant.

  I know something’s bugging you.

  Why won’t you talk to me?

  I think our relationship is important—

  that’s why I want us to be closer,

  if you get my drift.

  I love you very much!

  (For the 9,004,367,051st time)

  I’ve never told another girl that I loved

  her except K.S., and we were fourteen.

  Love, Don

  P.S. Guess who’s captain of the golf team?

  I’ll get a bitchin’ letter for my jacket.

  Cheryl

  Here’s the thing:

  my mom picks me up from school

  when the nurse calls saying

  I have men-stru-a-tion cramps.

  She pays me for As on my

  report card from the money

  she saves by clipping coupons

  and doesn’t ground me

  unless I ditch school

  or sneak out at night.

  I should tell her about our creepy

  neighbor.

  Crap!

  Year Of The Snake

  As Year of the Dragon gives way to Year of the Snake,

  two squads of Viet Cong slice through a barbed wire

  skirt at Camp Holloway’s airstrip, sneaking in unseen,

  one-arming satchel charges, blowing up helicopters

  and reconnaissance air crafts.

  Concurrently, guerrillas hiding 1,000 yards away poured

  55-rounds from 81mm mortars into the compound.

  52 billets are damaged. 7 Americans die. 100 plus wounded.

  President Johnson addresses the National Security Council

  around a casket-shaped table in the Cabinet Room,

  responding to the slaughterous Communist attacks,

  “I’ve had enough of this.”

  U.S. warplanes receive orders to destroy supply dumps,

  communications systems, and guerrilla staging cites

  north of the 17th parallel.

  The White House states, “Whether or not this course can

  be maintained lies with the North Vietnamese aggressors.

  The key to the situation remains the cessation of infiltration

  from North Viet Nam and the clear indication by the Hanoi

  regime that it is prepared to cease aggression against its neighbors

  Nancy

  Chatsworth High doesn’t have

  any Black kids.

  Not one.

  Angela, the girl who sits next to me

  in biology is Chicano. She eats lunch

  with the Science Club, peanut butter

  on Wonder.

  Angela said if they bus in Negroes,

  she’ll transfer to another school.

  “Why?” I asked her.

  “They’d use our toilets,” she said,

  dissecting a frog.

  Malcolm X

  Born Malcolm Little, May 19, 1925, a preacher’s son. Big Red, a teen involved in street crime. In prison by twenty, becoming Malcolm X six years later, spiritual desperado and controversial leader of black national movements.

  February 21: Audubon Ballroom, New York

  A crowd of 400 waits impatiently, curious newcomers and faithful followers.

  Tall and trim, striking in a dark suit, he walks purposefully to the lectern.

  Malcolm gazes into the audience amid a lengthy ovation:

  “A salaam aleikum (Peace be unto you).”

  They respond, “Wa aleikum salaam (And unto you, peace).”

  In the dingy light, a man shouts, “Nigger! Get your hand outta

  my pockets!” A second diversion: a sock soaked in lighter fluid,

  flying fire. A smuggled-in sawed-off shot gun. A blast splinters

  the lectern. “Then all hell broke loose.”

  Malcolm falls backward, sprawled limply over a folding chair.

  His pregnant wife rushes forward. “They’re killing my husband!”

  Men, women, and children flatten themselves on the floor. Others

  charge the assailants, kicking and beating them.

  According to the medical examiner’s preliminary autopsy,

  Malcolm X died from “multiple gunshot wounds.” Two different

  caliber bullets and shotgun pellets.

  February 27: Faith Temple Church of God in Christ, Harlem

  Activist and actor Ossie Davis delivers the eulogy,

  “Many will ask what Harlem finds to honor in this stormy, controversial and bold young captain ... They will say he is of hate—a fanatic, a racist—who can only bring evil to the cause for which you struggle! And we will answer and say to them: Did you ever talk to Brother Malcolm?

  “Did you ever touch him, or have him smile at you? Was he ever himself associated with violence or any public disturbance? ... if you knew him, you would
know why we must honor him. ...

  “Let his going from us serve only to bring us together, now. ...”

  —Buried as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, Ferncliff Cemetery, Hartsdale, New York

  Lysergic Acid Diethylamide

  Chemist Augustus Owsley Stanley III concocts

  his first batch of home-brewed LSD-25.

  To control the quality, he tints each lot a different

  color. Although the pills contain the same dose, myths

  develop about attributes of the various colors.

  Owsley is the primary acid supplier to Ken Kesey,

  author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and