Hey! How’s it going? Yeah, I know what you mean, the weather’s been kinda’ getting me down, too. Right, right. No, I don’t think I’m melancholy. Wistful, maybe. I associate melancholy with nostalgia, and I’ve always made a great effort to keep the past in the past. I don’t know about you, but it seems to me that the past is always trying to sneak back into the present. All that has to happen is I let my guard down and forget that I don’t want to remember, and bammo! I won’t even know that it’s happening. I’ll just turn this corner or that and I’ll see something and only then will I realize that my mind was wrapped around something that happened ten even twenty years ago. It’s weird. I guess that’s where the whole idea of ghosts and being haunted comes from.Oh yeah, I hear you on that! Some people stay with you no matter how hard you try. Take Hank... please! Ha ha, right, right, exactly! Anyway, Hank was my best friend while we were growing up. It was a pretty classic scenario. He was an only child, I had only sisters, we lived a block apart. Now, I always knew Hank was a little smarter than me-- y’know, at math and science and things like that-- but I never really thought about it much. It was only when Hank started talking about going to college that it even occurred to me that it would make any difference. I mean, I never even thought about going to college. Anyway, to make a long story short, Hank went off to college. And, not only that, but after Hank left, his parents, who were kinda old, sold their house and moved to Florida! So, as far as Hank was concerned Fairvale sorta’ just dropped off the map. Right, except for me.
So, of course Hank and I kept in constant touch at first. On the phone all the time. Letters and packages back and forth. Making tapes. You know the drill. Now, I wasn’t totally out to lunch, I knew that Hank would have to visit his parents over the holidays ‘n’ that , but for some reason I just assumed that he would be coming “home” for the summer. Why I thought this I couldn’t tell you. I just did.
Well, as it turned out, Hank got a summer internship with this computer company. I can’t remember the name, but it doesn’t matter. I don’t think it even exists any more anyway. We still talked on the phone after that, but something had changed. The next summer rolled around and it was pretty much a replay. And then... it’s weird but I really can’t tell you exactly when-- I just can’t remember-- but, at some point, it was all over and that was it. I never heard from him again.
Y’know, I don’t know what I felt. I think that’s part of the reason why I can’t remember when it was. I was just kind of numb. Now, that was a few years back, and I have no idea what Hank’s up to these days, or even where he’s at., but I can’t help myself from thinking of him. I only catch myself when it’s already happened and I’m reliving some summer afternoon.
Huh? Right here? Sorry, I guess I sorta drifted off again. Just like I was talking about.
Crazy, huh? Yeah, well I’ll let you know when I figure it out. Alright. Hey, thanks! You take it easy, now. See ya’ ‘round.