The Following

Dan Blake was finally getting a fresh start.  He was soon heading for college miles away from home, and he wouldn’t know a soul.  Best of all, no one would know his past.  No one would remind him of what had happened in a fourth grade classroom. 

Coming in to a new school as a fifth grader, Dan sat through an entire week of instruction in a grade lower than where he belonged.  What made matters worse was that the school administration had not figured out the mistake.  His younger sister, running an errand for her 2nd grade teacher, saw Danny sitting in a fourth grade class.
“What are you doing here Danny?” blurted his sister.  “You’re supposed to be in fifth grade.  Did you flunk out already?”

Subsequently, all through the remainder of his elementary and high school life, Dan Blake was the subject of ridicule, not only by his own classmates, but by those coming up behind him as well. But college would be different.  The time had come to shed this burden and leave the past behind.

Dan’s college experience was all he hoped it would be.  His grades were good and he was making plenty of friends.  He had even expressed romantic interests in a girl from class and she was responding favorably.

Jen was tall and she filled out her thin frame with a subtle appeal that attracted the eyes of many around campus.  Her black hair splashed like waves upon her narrow shoulders.  She spoke little but smiled big.  When she did speak, Dan drank in every word with an insatiable thirst.  He, therefore, chose his own words carefully for fear of saying too much and coming across like a rambling idiot.

Dan invited Jen to his dorm room one day to listen to music and order pizza.  When she arrived, Dan picked up the phone to order pizza while Jen flipped through his cds.
“If you have any hard core rap in this collection, I’m out of here,” stated Jen.  “I find some of that stuff offensive and degrading to women.  Don’t you”, she asked without looking up. 

A sullen, horrified look came over Dan’s face as he put down the phone mid-way through dialing. Dan recalled a verbal exchange he had before leaving for college.  He was in a second hand music store when he bumped into two of his old school mates.  The pair took delight in suggesting that Dan check with his little sister before showing up for his first lecture.  Dan took delight in suggesting that his little sister would graduate before them.  They nearly ended up in a fight.  In his haste to exit the store, he had bought the wrong bundle of cds and wound up with ‘Rap You Won’t Hear on the Radio’.  All had warning labels for language and content. 

Jen was fingering through the titles at a rapid pace when they came to an abrupt halt.  Dan wanted to stop her and divert her attention, but it was too late.  She lifted up one of the cds, then another, and another.  Jen looked slowly up at Dan.  It was at that moment that he went into a babbling tirade that would rival an accomplished auctioneer.

“I was at music store”, began Dan.  “And I saw two friends, well not really friends, but, they were 10 for $10.  Not the friends, the cds.  And I thought I had The Greatest Hits of the 80’s and 90’s but I had rap and I didn’t know it until I left the store, and they have a non-refundable policy so I…"

“Maybe I better leave”, interrupted Jen.

Before he could regain his composure, she was gone.

It wasn’t until the following day that Dan realized the full scope of his misfortune.  His friends had heard of the incident with Jen and seized the opportunity for humor at Dan’s expense.  They dubbed him ‘The Rapper’ and the nickname stuck.  Dan played it off in good fun.  But behind the laughs was a familiar pain.  The stigma that had followed him for so many years back home had somehow reached through the miles and found him again.