I still had a mad crush on Robbie, the cute guy from my high school algebra class. I had some how talked him into mailing me my yearbook, since they had been released after we had moved. After several weeks of waiting for my yearbook, I'd written Robbie reminding him to mail the yearbook. Several weeks later, the yearbook arrived in the mail.
I was so busy at the pool that I didn't have much time to think about Robbie, until I received a letter from a high school girlfriend. The letter was all about Robbie. He was in trouble, big trouble.
It seems that the liquor store down the street from our home in Norwalk had been robbed. Several teens had entered the store, told the clerk working behind the counter to fill their bags with money and then as the boys exited the store, one of the boys turned and shot the clerk. The clerk didn't survive and the boys drove away.
I knew the clerk, Ron, very well. Since the liquor store was only one half block from my house, my friends and I went there often. We all knew Ron by name and he knew all of us by name also. Our school bus stop was right in front of the liquor store, so twice a day on school days, most of us kids would stop by for a soda, candy bar or a bag of chips.
The clerk, Ron, was killed during the robbery. I didn't know any of the boys who entered the store, but the boy I had a huge crush on, Robbie, was in the get away car.
The boys were all caught and went on trial. Robbie was sentenced to several years in a Juvenile detention camp. The boys who entered the store received much more severe punishment, especially the boy who did the shooting.
I was so sad for Robbie, and cried for several days because my romantic dreams had been crushed. I never knew what happened to Robbie after he served time in the California Juvenile Detention Camp. I thought of him often. It was very sad that such a handsome, bright boy have his life taken from him at such a young age. Hopefully he recovered and went on to have a better life.
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