Friend or Foe?

I met him while riding a school bus one bone chilling morning in January 1989. I am oblivious to what captivated me first his gleaming green eyes or the partial leering smile that in spite of everything possesses my heart today. Jeffrey was not a striking boy, homely to be frank. His strawberry blond hair ascended tautly upward on his eccentrically large head as if it were bulletproof and aiming for the moon. His oversized turquoise shirtsleeves drooped loosely concealing any possible sign of hands or fingers. If he owned one more freckle, his swaddled body would force him to seize it in his hand. “Is anyone sitting here?” He asked in a subtle voice. With an uncouth stare, I reluctantly slid my book bag across the green vinyl seat surrendering to him the futile space my belongings once occupied. During that twenty-minute commute to Wrens Elementary, my heart had no premonition of the eternal defeat in which it would succumb. Several rural memorable jaunts to school together I gave that same implausible boy more than just an unfilled place to seat on a school bus. I gave him my heart and my life. Little did I know what seemed like fate would leave me questioning if the only man in my life was a friend or a foe?
Jeffrey and I endured the innocence of puppy love as two youngsters growing up in our small hometown of Stapleton Georgia. Although our first meeting was on an old yellow school bus we lived only walking distance from one another and over the years we exhausted the old dusty road that aided as connecting place for two wretched hearts deeply in love. Throughout childhood we would often ride bikes and play together taking pleasure in our new found friendship that continued to grow. By middle school we were awkward adolescents struggling to find a place to belong. We often returned to each other for support in times of need. As teenagers, riding the bus ended and I found myself sharing a seat with Jeffrey in an old blue chevy nestled close under his arm untroubled by the world and struggles yet to come. It became ascertian that Jeffrey Amerson was my soul mate and my survival could not exist without him.