Where Are You, Part 2

This is part 2 of a two-part post. Part 1 is the previous post, titled “Where Are You, Billie Jean?”

My high school classmates and I were not arrows fired from the bow of life, to arc gracefully through the days of our lives until we hit (or missed) our life’s goals. No, that would have been too poetic. We were buckshot fired from life’s scattergun. I was there and now I’m here, and it’s been the blink of an eye.

When I published my last post, Where Are You, Billie Jean?, I was satisfied with what I had written. It’s a true story; it has a beginning, middle, and end. It’s written about as well as I can write. It’s practically tied up with a bow. But my satisfaction lasted only a day before I developed a nagging feeling that it is incomplete – a story not quite finished.

My story ended with the question, “Where Are You, Billie Jean"?” With all the people-finding resources of the Internet available to me, why leave that question hanging? I decided to look for an answer to that question. If I can’t find Billie Jean, so be it. But I had to look. Call it due diligence. Call it finishing the story.

I fired up my browser and began my search. The search was like finding pieces of a puzzle. This piece fits with that piece; this other piece doesn’t fit with anything. Finally I had enough pieces to see a picture. I obtained a phone number and an address in South Carolina.

The phone number didn’t pan out. The number belonged to a horse breeding farm. I left a message, hoping it would reach Billie Jean, but I received no reply. That left me with the address, so I composed a letter. I composed it using my best non-stalkerish persona. I don’t need a restraining order barring me from the state of South Carolina. If I want to drive from Virginia to Florida, it would be a major hassle to go around the state of South Carolina.

Today I put the letter into the mail. I’ve done my part. Now the ball is in Billie Jean’s court. Or to be more accurate, the ball is in someone’s court. I hope the address is Billie Jean’s. I hope she will reply.

But either way, reply or no reply, I feel the story has an end now.