Remembering the gang

I got an e-card from an old high school friend and was reminded of my co-conspirators again. In another posting (http://searchesworld.blogspot.com/2011/11/last-man-standing.html) I reminisced a bit about the core group of friends who hung around in High School. For some reason the fab four came to mind today. Maybe it was the card from Harriet and the death last week of Steve E., a nice guy but not one of the core. Maybe it was the report this morning about the actor, Richard Griffiths (played Harry Potters Uncle Vernon), dying at age 65. Don’t know. But here is another part of the tale of the foursome, promised in an earlier post. The Great B & E escapade. Leaving out the details, let’s just say that the four of us attempted a b&e of friend's house when they were away on vacation. We wanted something his father had. Two of us got caught, Me and Max (aka John, but we called him Max to avoid confusion), and John and Murph didn’t. Since we were under 16 and the father spoke up for us, the penalty was a kind of probation and very stern warning not to get into trouble ever again. None of us did. John and Murph died in their early 20s, Max in his late 60s, and I am still going. That incident, the b&e, left us all with a profound sense of something akin to fear, but not really fear. We knew for sure that one more brush with the law and we would be up to our eyeballs in trouble. The fear was unknowingly doing something and getting “caught”. We walked a much different line after the trial, all of us, and to the day they died and I didn’t, we were better for the experience.

Of course, John and Murph didn’t have “strike one”, but they were sobered just the same. Now both are dead. Neither had children and probably their parents are long dead, so I am probably the vessel who holds their stories.  At least some of them. Max did marry and we stayed in touch to the end. His wife never wanted to discuss our “bad boy” days, and didn’t want their children to know the stories. Pity really. Max was a good man, father and husband, and part of why was his history. My children probably know most of the stories of the old days, some of which are in this blog in other places. And they probably have heard some about me and the old days that aren’t true. In any case, we are who we are precisely because of our history. Total history. The good, bad and ugly.

So on the eve of Easter and well into Passover I remember my mates fondly and sadly. Fondly because of all we experienced together and sadly because they are no longer here to remember with me. Just a thought for the day.

Image: http://www.mptv.org/pics/shows/i_remember/i_remember.jpg