Rewa the Monkee Thief – Part 2

[Note-Part 1 is about a classmate named Rewa who announced in Jr. High that she was going to marry Micky Dolenz of The Monkees.]

When Rewa made her monumental pronouncement,the practical side of me was not giong to waste time on a doomed project: my crush on Micky Dolenz. As mentioned in Part 1, I was bummed at first. But that quickly faded—especially after I got a load of Jim Morrison from The Doors, another L.A. rock group. This guy was NO cartoon character. I hung his poster in my bedroom instead.

Back to Rewa…

It had been over three years since I had interacted with her. But that changed on a Saturday night during my senior year. I was hanging out at my best friend’s house (the lovely Laurice). She and I (and one or two of her brothers) sat around the living room with the TV on, but not paying attention to it. When we heard a man’s voice on the TV say, “From Magnolia High School, here is Miss Teen California, Rewa…” our heads snapped to!

We couldn’t believe it. Rewa? On national  TV? From then on our eyes were glued to Miss Teen USA show, a now-defunct pageant sponsored by Dr Pepper. [“Points were awarded on personality, appearance, intelligence & talent.  There was no swimsuit competition.” – from Wikipedia.]

The other contestants sang or played a musical instrument. Not Rewa.

She performed a modern dance routine wearing a pre-Lady Gaga slinky black leotard and tights costume. She leaped, crawled, rolled, swung her arms, kicked her legs. It was mesmerizing to watch.

Rewa won the title. As Miss Teen USA, she also won a boatload of Dr Pepper and a full scholarship to the college of her choice. I was impressed, mostly because of the guts and confidence it took to present yourself in that kind of a setting in front of the world. If I had a choice back then, I would rather have been in a soldier’s uniform in Viet Nam.

I also  wondered if Micky Dolenz had been watching the show…

Was that the last of Rewa? Not quite…

Years later during summer break from college, I worked in my Dad’s dental office. One morning I checked the roster of patients for the day—and was surprised to see Rewa’s name. She had not been in for a long time. I looked forward to seeing her.

To my disappointment, Rewa had changed. She wasn’t as bubbly. She had lost her joie de vivre. This made her not as pretty to me. She seemed lost.

I pumped her for her story. She had attended the University of Texas but dropped out after one semester. She didn’t like it. (No further explanation.) She hung around Texas for a while and then returned home. She was pretty much doing nothing. I hoped she didn’t have any cavities. She seemed to have enough to deal with.

I thought about Micky Dolenz— with smug self-satisfaction. No way he’d marry her now!

Now I wish I had hung around Rewa (a little bit anyway) and had gotten to know her better. She was definitely a character! Which can certainly be said of moi.

Here is who Micky Dolenz did end up marrying. (But her “crush” didn’t last either.)