Hold on to this lullaby, even when the music's gone.... Chapter 1

Cody Leigh Utz was born in the year 1985. I met her 8 years later in Humboldt, Arizona. I had just moved in with my dad after he had a stay in rehab at the VA in Prescott. I was enrolled at Humboldt Elementary and had never met such a pretty little blonde girl. I was instantly drawn to Cody, she was everything I wished I was. Pretty, long light blonde hair, athletic, popular AND smart. I was kind of a loner at first but since I could do the splits Cody thought I was really cool and our beautiful relationship started. Months after meeting her my family moved from Dewey into Cody's family's old trailer in Humboldt. She and her family moved into a slightly bigger trailer just a couple tiny blocks away. From the moment we lived so close to each other, we were inseperable. Everyone knew us as Cody and Jenny, Jenny and Cody. There is no doubt that we were as close as sisters. She had basically the same kind of childhood I did. Abandoned by a parent at a very young age, thrown into a poverty level atmosphere with drugs and alcohol at our every turn. Not any place I would want to raise my child but that is another post. We stuck together and tried our best to enjoy childhood dispite our situation. We rode bikes to Young's Farm, down to the creek, up to the school and the market where we'd buy ice water for 25 cents and share our hot cheetoes and candy. Baseball games at the elementary school were some of our favorite times, sunflower seeds, licorice straws and bubble gum. And don't forget the boys! Boys always flocked to Cody naturally. But I being the shy one had a little more difficulty in that area. We had lots of our first experiences side by side. In third grade the year we met we each had our first french kiss one after another with Adam and Tony but there's no way for me to be sure who kissed who. We were constantly switching boyfriends at that age. Through the rest of grade school and middle school we were both very good students, Cody's grades were always a little better than mine but that's just because she actually tried. She excelled in PE where I always wanted to sit out. I would go to her basketball games to watch but I always wished I had her confidence and ability. In cheerleading she outshined everyone, in my opinion and convinced me to join the squad our 8th grade year. During that season of the Steelers is when she started chasing after older boys while I could hardly keep a 7th grader for a boyfriend. At this point she was introduced fully into the drug culture of Humboldt and all the experience I had was all what I had seen in my parents bathroom. Drugs terrified me and I saw what a baffoon alcohol had made my dad into so I stayed away, although I was curious.