Part One
Harold Hayes: Why don’twe start from the beginning?
Penny: I don’t even know where that would be.
Harold Hayes: Well, when I write for Zipper, I start my piece when a band or song changes.When did everything change?
Penny: I suppose everything changed when I went back to Moose Creek for the Summer of 1975.
Harold Hayes: And?
Chapter One
Arrival At Moose Creek
Song: Georgia Peaches—LynyrdSkynyrd
June 14th, 1975
The sunbeams shone on my face as I sat in my mom and stepdad’s old ruby pickup truck.We were packed together, like sardines in the front, but I didn’t mind because I was close to my parents in ways most teens were not.I waved my hand out the window as Captain & Tennille’s “Love Will Keep Us Together” played.
My stepdad, James, took his eyes off the road and said, “Penny, change the radio.This crap is awful.”James was a tall man with brown hair that he brushed back.He had green eyes, a mustache I liked to make fun of, with a heavy gut.He insisted that mustaches were groovy, and he looked like a famous rockstar.Even though his appearance was far from Hollywood material, he was a star to me.
I laughed and replied, “Understood.How is this?”
The station switched from pop to 105.1 The ROCK!It played the new summer hit “Rock and Roll All Nite” by KISS.My stepdad grinned and turned the dial to thirty-two as he sang along.
I could feel the song’s vibration through my feet up to my chest.I smiled back at him because nothing could change my mood.I loved all types of music, so the song didn’t matter.We were also heading to Moose Creek, my favorite place in the world.
My mom, April, must have noticed my enthusiasm, because she laid her head on my shoulder and whispered, “You ready, Penelope?”
I leaned into her and said, “You know I am, Momma.”
Momma was beautiful.She had puffy blonde hair with bangs that framed her face just right.
I was taking notes about the song in my beaten-up notebook so I could write a critique about it later when my momma nudged me and said, “You better not sit around and read all summer long.Words won’t do you justice.You need to live and learn.”
