Down and Out Friends
Yesterday Anna and I went to the funeral home and paid our respects to the family of an old friend that I grew up with. I had ran into this friend off and on in downtown Marietta in the last several years.. I enjoy walking in the downtown area to be among the old buildings I grew up with, so after a doctor's appointment or something I go a little out of my way to take a walk in the area. And that is where I would run into the old friend I was in school with. He was there to hang out on a street corner to be picked up as a day laborer. He wasn't much in demand, he looked years older than he really was, and walked with a pronounced limp. Who would hire him?
And where are your friends when you are down and out? At the funeral home there were only about a half dozen people there, and that included his ex-wife and his daughter.
Once, several years ago, Anna and I was in Mrs. Winner's one Sunday morning. In line, when ordering our food, the old stinking man in front of us, ordered a biscuit and a senior coffee. I picked up on his idea and ordered a senior coffee also, a buck is a buck. A short time later in the dining area I heard the old man telling some friends of his, who looked to be day laborers that were still learning English, about what used to be that corner, what was up the street, down the street, and what was across town. He had seen Marietta through my eyes as I was growning up. I asked him his name and he told me. It was an old childhood friend, who time has been unkind to.
Once I saw him pick up a cast away smoking cigarette butt. He didn't recognize me then, so I didn't embarrass him by speaking.
I was talking to another old friend, Larry, that I kept in touch with over the years and told him I saw our old friend and he said he sees him out from time to time too and gives him a ride when he sees him walking. He told me the old down and out friend was stabbed in the back by two brothers which messed up his spine and that is why he walks with such a pronounced limp. The next time I saw him in downtown Marietta I told him what Larry had told me about his stabbing. And with a blank but- not- blank expression he told me the two brothers that stabbed him were both shot to death in some woods just outside their father's apartment. I have seen him use that same innocent expression when the principal had us on the carpet because of some mischievious deed we had been suspected of. Life is different kind of jungle for the down and out.
When I last saw him in the mid '50s he had a head of bushy hair, which made his head look bigger than it actually was, he looked something like Pogo Possum then. He always had a smirk on his face and a dazzle in his expression that he could see the humor in just about any situation. Even lying in his casket I could see his slight smirk which they couldn't wipe off, but they did close his eyes.
And where are your friends when you are down and out? At the funeral home there were only about a half dozen people there, and that included his ex-wife and his daughter.
Once, several years ago, Anna and I was in Mrs. Winner's one Sunday morning. In line, when ordering our food, the old stinking man in front of us, ordered a biscuit and a senior coffee. I picked up on his idea and ordered a senior coffee also, a buck is a buck. A short time later in the dining area I heard the old man telling some friends of his, who looked to be day laborers that were still learning English, about what used to be that corner, what was up the street, down the street, and what was across town. He had seen Marietta through my eyes as I was growning up. I asked him his name and he told me. It was an old childhood friend, who time has been unkind to.
Once I saw him pick up a cast away smoking cigarette butt. He didn't recognize me then, so I didn't embarrass him by speaking.
I was talking to another old friend, Larry, that I kept in touch with over the years and told him I saw our old friend and he said he sees him out from time to time too and gives him a ride when he sees him walking. He told me the old down and out friend was stabbed in the back by two brothers which messed up his spine and that is why he walks with such a pronounced limp. The next time I saw him in downtown Marietta I told him what Larry had told me about his stabbing. And with a blank but- not- blank expression he told me the two brothers that stabbed him were both shot to death in some woods just outside their father's apartment. I have seen him use that same innocent expression when the principal had us on the carpet because of some mischievious deed we had been suspected of. Life is different kind of jungle for the down and out.
When I last saw him in the mid '50s he had a head of bushy hair, which made his head look bigger than it actually was, he looked something like Pogo Possum then. He always had a smirk on his face and a dazzle in his expression that he could see the humor in just about any situation. Even lying in his casket I could see his slight smirk which they couldn't wipe off, but they did close his eyes.
posted by Eddie at 4:28 AM
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