It is the first execution in almost 20 years. The state intends to kill James Abner Maddox, and the students are against that. Their high school looks like the prison; the seniors enjoy not a lawn but a quad. They can see the penitentiary from the back parking lot. But they’d have protested the procedure anyway. They’re against capital punishment.

No one argues that Maddox is a good guy. Over a two-year period he raped and murdered six women in the area. Before that he offed his parents in Michigan. He is a white sociopath with very little likelihood of rehabilitation. But capital punishment is too final. Not a deterrent. Uncivilized. The students are 17 and 18 and their futures are so wide they want to keep the rims unsullied.

A vigil began outside the prison last night. Votive candles. A lot of students considered it but most didn’t attend. By morning, excitement had built up a bit. More students showed up. But many made it to school before the urge to demonstrate became irresistible.

The time is February 1967. The place is northern California.

Vivian and Rob and David are seniors. They are all bright, white, and headed for prosperity. Each appears totally together to the others; each within feels awkward and unsure. Vivian is short, too plump in her own opinion, and very intelligent; she likes both boys but has a sneakily strong crush on David. Rob hides a major attraction to Vivian while David feels fond and of course curious about her. The boys are alike lanky, but Rob’s a tall redhead and David is medium height and medium brown.

They have a number of classes together. In math, English, and Latin they sit in a block with their other friend, Linda, and sometimes they’re so sarcastic that they get in trouble. (Linda has a crush on no one at this time. She is more interested in creating new tastes, like raw mushroom slices on corn chips, or baby carrots with salsa. Linda will be asexual until her early twenties, when she will admit she is gay and try to make Vivian her lover, and seriously rock their friendship for almost a year).

They have a lot of classes together but not till third period. Vivian and Rob and David make a plan to go to the vigil at the prison. They conspire before school starts, her dark blonde hair next to red and brown. They agree to meet in the front parking lot, at Rob’s car.

Rob has PE second period and David has photography. It’s a simple matter for them to cut their classes and rendezvous at Rob’s Corvair. More often than not they cut second period anyway. They tend to hang out then in the senior quad, where Vivian can see them and toss them notes in two-hole rubber stoppers. She spends second period as lab assistant to her old chemistry teacher, whom she respects, so she drops by Mr. Gibson’s room to let him know she’s going to the vigil. During their brief talk the school administration forms a cordon around the doors to the rectangular building, and when Vivian tries to get to Rob’s car she is confronted by a phalanx of dark-suited adults.

She attempts to get through anyway. She asserts herself between the dean of boys and a counselor, but Mr. Roscoe pushes her back. She tries again, and again the dean shoves. A third time. Rob and David see it all. Rob is so incensed that he comes tearing out of his maroon car and around its rear to do unto the dean. A little friendly assault.