The moment my pants and briefs hit the floor of the lunch room I knew that Stephanie and I would be permanently linked. Elementary school was a big deal in late-seventies Prince Edward Island. The province had just amalgamated dozens of small community schools into large modern education centres. Rural kids were bused from the country to join their city peers. Looking back, I don’t think much thought was put into the possible repercussions of this kind of social engineering. Conflict was imminent. After all, even in tiny PEI, the chasm between rural and urban life was great, especially for us kids. Grade six was the senior class at West…