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
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