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academy, was over and Ross was headed home to Rumley for another short break. His bus arrived in town the evening before Patty would celebrate her graduation from high school, but she was unaware of that fact. In what had been an acceptable lie, Ross had informed her that he would be in town in another week.
    The only reason he would even be able to attend the event was because her 1969 graduation was scheduled to take place one week later in June than Ross’ had been the previous year. That meant that Ross would obtain summer leave from the academy at the completion of his plebe year in time to fly to Dallas before riding on the bus to Rumley. Patty’s mother Elizabeth would keep her occupied so that Robert and Jessica could pick him up at the general store undetected, and then on the following day he would sneak into the seating area with the others while the graduates gathered in the gymnasium. Ross’ plan was to surprise Patty when he would be the first one to stand and applaud at the conclusion of her speech as the valedictorian of her class.
    Everything about the plan worked to perfection, and while Ross slouched next to Jessica so he wouldn’t be seen by Patty, she gave him a gentle elbow to the ribs. She didn’t miss the opportunity to pick on her older brother a little bit by reminding him that Patty was the valedictorian of a larger class of fifty-three graduates, and was therefore smarter than he was. Ross took the ribbing, both literal and verbal, in stride, while informing Jessica that her own class might be larger still. He said, “That should be considered additional motivation for you to strive for the same goal that both Patty and I have achieved.”
    Ross was the first to stand at the completion of Patty’s speech, and applauded her effort. She beamed with delight at the sight of him, and kept her eyes fixed in his direction for the remainder of the ceremony. When the two of them finally had a chance to embrace at the conclusion of the commencement ceremonies, little doubt was left that they belonged together. A few well-wishers came by to see how Ross had been doing at the Naval Academy, but he quickly reminded them that this day belonged to Patty and the rest of the graduating class.
    The two of them decided to forgo the camping trip with her classmates to Proctor Lake, because they wanted to use the extra time to get Patty ready for her great adventure. A few weeks later Ross and Patty boarded the bus together for the trip east. His summer leave would be over soon, and she was anxious to look around her new school in Maryland that was less than fifty miles away from Annapolis.

 

     
     
    OVER THE COURSE of the next three years, Ross continued to excel at the Naval Academy. During their second year together he had developed a stronger friendship with James and Shaun, but Davis Lee continued to create occasional problems. Unfortunately every time he returned to South Carolina, or spoke to his father on the phone, the ancestral hatred of others was reinforced. Not even the tragic event that befell upon Shaun during the summer after their second year at the academy could bring him around.
    While on summer leave back in Boston, Shaun was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, and it cost him dearly. A stray bullet from a robbery at a convenience store had left him in a wheel chair for the remainder of his life, so his dreams of becoming an officer in the Navy came to an abrupt end. It was a shame that Shaun had found a way to escape his neighborhood, and was on the path to a more productive life, only to be accidentally shot while picking up a few groceries for his mother just two blocks from the family home. She probably would never forgive herself for sending him to the store, but Ross knew the random act of violence against her son was in no way Mrs. Jamison’s fault.
    Ross, along with James and Davis Lee, had traveled to Boston and visited Shaun in the hospital after they had been informed