Brian,
A bleak morning on a train platform in NYC suburbia, I met the guy, he was to take a bunch of brats to the city to play arcade games and eat junk food, he became a friend.
As time went on, we had the opportunity and the will to know more about each other, and we became friends.
Then came the time of chili contests: Brooklyn chili vs. Afro/French chili, he became my friend.
Our sons had a brush with the local police because they were caught smoking a joint in a public park after hours, we dealt together with the court... as we were friends.
He’s the one who took me out to discover New Jersey by night a couple of times as our ladies were out of town, getting half smashed in strip joints! We were friends.
Then, we were introduced to one sister, his father and his mother. Later he was introduced to Sara’s family, normal, between friends.
One day I was run over by a car, he came to visit me in the hospital, as a good friend.
He was the terror of the squirrels roaming his father land which he hunted down with ......an AK47! While on Safari on his old Massey Tractor with me, His friend.
As time passed, we visited each other, one upstate NY, us in VT, normal with good friends!
Then Sara and I moved to France, we were regularly on the phone with each other, I missed my friend.
We had plans for my friend to come and visit us, I couldn’t wait to take my friend around, to try restaurants on terraces overlooking some river, I couldn’t wait for my friend to come.
Then, I lost my friend, I miss him, he was the most decent person I ever knew.
Patrick.