Who Is Hockalocker? by Steve Smart When I started to collage I really wanted to make some nice Christian friends. On my first campus visit I had found a place called the Chi Alpha House. It was la Christian organization that was sponsored by the Assembly of God Church. There I had met a couple of nice people name Ron & Marrion. I figured if all the people there were that nice I would love it there, so on my first day as a student I went for another visit at the first chance I had. When I arrived that day, nobody else was there. I took a quick look around, and then started to leave, thinking I'd try back after lunch. As I headed out the door I noticed that they had a guestbook for visitors to sign. I decided I might as well. Once years before I had seen a movie or TV show where, as a joke, someone signed a guestbook with a fake name and it had been funny. I thought I might do that here. Off of the top of my head, however I wasn't sure who's name to sign. I looked around. On the table next to the guestbook was a paperback book about a well known evangilist named Oral Roberts. I decided to sign his name, thinking the next person who signed it would get a good laugh, then I left. When I returned that afternoon several people were standing around talking. The whole room was abuzz about the famous guest that had visited that morning. I introduced myself and asked what was going on. One girl named Kay was especially excited. I asked her if anyone had seen this Oral Roberts there. She said "No, but he singed the guestbook." I then asked if mybe it might be a joke. She said "No, I thought about that at first, but I have seen his signature before and I know that is his, not even an expert forger could have gotten it so close." Then she went into all the reasons Oral Roberts might have had to visit the Chi Alpha House. I didn't know what to say. I wasn't an expert forger and I hadn't even tried to be. I had never seen the mans handwriting before. I hated to let them down, but eventually the truth did come out and everyone had a good laugh aqbout it,except Kay who thought I had made a fool of her. I still feel kind of bad about that (but not to much.) After a while Kay came around and learned to laugh about it too. I became an active member of Chi Alpha after that. We had a singing group that sang at nearby churches in order to raise money to pay for our Chi Alpha house. Everytime we went to a new church everyone was interested in finding out what name I would sign to the Church Guestbook. One day, after about a year, I didn't feel well one day and when we got to the church, I just walked by the guestbook. All my friends got upset and asked if I wasn't going to sign the guestbook. When I told them I didn't feel like it, they protested. One of them told me that it had become one of the highlights of our trips for them to see what name I would sign next. When I groaned and said I couldn't think of a name, by best friend, Daniel, asked me to sign Hockalocker. I laughed at that name and asked him where he came up with a name like that. He told me it was the name of his "imaginary friend". I thought that was so funny. I signed the guestbook "Hockalocker" and every guestbook after that. Sometime later after my graduation when I was ready to leave school, I gave Daniel a goodbye gift. At first he said he was sorry but that he didn't have anything to give me. Then he thought about it and said that he was going to give me "Hockalocker" to take with me. He told me Hockalocker would watch after me and take care of me. Since that time Hockalocker has been by "imaginary friend" and more than that, a very special part of me. (The End?) |
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