Where the Streets Have No Name

by U2

I wanna run
I want to hide
I wanna tear down the walls
That hold me inside
I wanna reach out
And touch the flame
Where the streets have no name

I want to feel
Sunlight on my face
I see the dust cloud disappear
Without a trace
I want to take shelter from the poison rain
Where the streets have no name

+++++++++++++

It was likely to be March Eighteenth when Greg Love and I went shopping for a Compact Disc.

Just a week earlier, U2 released "The Joshua Tree", which was now the #1 LP in the country. MTV had the video "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" in heavy rotation. Every teenager in America knew the band members by their names: Bono, Larry, Adam, and The Edge. Girls wore black rock concert Ts with a silhouette of Bono and the trademark large white flag from the "New Years Day" video.

I still hadn't gotten my driver's license, so I had to rely on everyone else (including Greg Love) to drive. Just after the final bell at school, Greg and I went to the parking lot and got into his pale yellow Mazda with the tattered black leather seats and sun-bleached dash and console.

We went west on I-70 to Hamilton Road, turning south at the traffic light. About a mile south, we looked for "the Big Green E".on the sign outside.Eastland Mall.

Greg parked near Lazarus and we headed inside. The General Cinemas Duplex Theatre and Recordtown sat on either side of Lazarus.

We'd decided to buy "The Joshua Tree" even before we left RHS, so it was no surprise that we headed directly to the back of the store, where the U2 CDs were located. Although the CD was a birthday gift, we didn't wrap it. We just taped a birthday card directly to the CD, without removing the plastic theft-proof guard.

We returned to Reynoldsburg, heading east on Main and turning left onto Briarcliff. Passing Tanya Terrace, Prior, and Nocturne, we turned left again, this time onto Roundelay Road.

As we approached our destination, cars lined both sides of the street. Tina Wiese was standing in front of the house. Most likely, she was talking to either Hallie or Shelly. Bernie and Myrna's place was full of high school kids, ready to party.

Eric Yavitch, the birthday boy, was there, too.

Tina had a crush on Eric as long as she attended RHS. Eric, on the other hand, didn't feel the same. He begrudgingly accepted the idea of a surprise party. Luckily, Greg and I lost track of time at Recordtown. This meant we missed the 'surprise' part of the party.

We went inside the Yavitch house and watched the misery unfold. Tina had a heart to break and Eric was eager to break it. Mrs. Yavitch helped Tina plan the party, so she attempted to push Eric into awkward situations with Tina. Eventually, Eric won out and Mrs. Yavitch quit trying. When that happened, the party unfolded beautifully. Small clusters of people gathered in various areas of the house.

At one time, Eric and I were hanging out in his bedroom with Pete DiSalvo and Cassie Martin. I think Eric was dating Cassie at that time, but maybe not. It's hard telling after 20+ years. Anyway, Pete started telling one of his favorite stories about his grandpa.

Pete imitated his grandfather's voice, which creaked. It sorta sounded like his Doug Leonard impression, which always started and ended with an "Awww, gee." Instead, you knew it wasn't a Doug Leonard imitation within one question his grandpa always asked him:

"Peter, did I ever tell you about the time I got a hand job in the back of a rowboat?"

It was classic Pete, always to tell simple jokes that kept you laughing, no matter how many times you'd heard it.

Since unrequited love seemed to be the theme of the party, we talked about the girl I had a crush on at that time. The funny thing was, Eric remarked he thought she was too cute for me and he thought "I bet she has one tasty beaver."

It was a bet nobody wanted to take. Maybe it was the fact that we all thought, in fact, she had a tasty beaver. Maybe it was just the fact that at age 18, you cannot argue these kinds of things, since all boys are in agreement.

Sex of any kind, whether real or imagined, is good sex.

We laughed and joked, mostly about girls we'd dated and the time Eric had to do laundry because one of his ex-girlfriends had messed up his bedsheets.

Anyway, that's all gossip. What matters is that friends celebrated together, whether it was perfect or not. Had it turned out perfectly, there probably wouldn't have been a thing to talk about. So, maybe the blemishes were what made it perfect, after all.