Boyz in the Grove — Rick Darby

The Boyz in the Grove is set in the late 1960's and early 1970's. As two old friends reminisce after not seeing each other for twenty years the story begins to unfold. Jacob Hartley and Rick Darby reconnect in a hospital room and mutually agree not to talk about an incident that occurred thirty-four years earlier. Jacob asks Rick to share some of their childhood stories to bring him some peace during his last days of life. As Rick begins to share in the Southern style only he can, others show up to hear a story or two. He even shares one of his stories with a group of nurses. During that story he gets a little surprise that catches him off guard. After a day at the hospital Rick prepares to leave when Jacob throws him a curve. His request was more than Rick had bargained for. Jacob wants him to record their teen years and even what they vowed not to talk about. As Rick questions Jacob's request he asked specifically if he should write about what happened in April 1971. Jacob says to write it all, the good, the bad and even the ugly. He said, "Our children and families need to know what happened." Rick hesitantly agrees and immediately begins to think about those years from the summer of 69 to the summer of 73. These were stories that had only been shared with a select few. How would the families take it, could he even do this justice. All he could do was pray that the pictures painted would show that they were just ordinary boyz from the Pecan Grove. There were however, a few extra-ordinary stories.