…passing through one of the seedier parts of town, I stop off to visit with an old friend from college. I’m surprised to find him here, in such strained circumstances.
We sit out on his little patch of front yard and chat for a bit, but it quickly grows tiresome. He’s consumed by self-involved bitterness about the past and where his path in life has led him.
Looking for any point to distract the conversation, I mention that one of our common college friends — a guy I’ve known since junior high — has died, at a very young age. Not too much of a surprise, I explain. He ate and drank like a teenager.
Soon enough I make my excuses and my escape, leaving my friend to sit alone in his aluminum lawn chair inside the little cage of chain link surrounding his house.
It’s a relief.