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. . .
Alas, despite their credentials, none of the three other 6th grade boys could compete with John Cowsill for our affections.
Here's my 6th grade truth. I would have sworn John barely knew who I was. There were stunningly lovely girls in our class, girls like the model you met in the essay in Chapter 2, "Sparkle Hip." When the Cowsill family left before the end of the year, as suddenly as they'd arrived, I was devastated. John was gone forevermore, only to be glimpsed on television specials.
After 8th grade I attended the famed High School of Performing Arts. No more professional children. We were all happy amateurs, studying and finding artistic expression, working on (ahem) our instrument.
Through my teens and 20s, I heard news about John Cowsill via one classmate who relayed that John played drums for Jan and Dean. Later, I heard John lived in Ojai, which sounded romantic and richly creative. I imagined him up on a hill, musical, and "happy, happy, happy" as the Cowsills sing in their hit song "The Rain, the Park and Other Things." What a gorgeous, sweet boy to have known, albeit . . .
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