______________________________________________________________________________________________
He
is
a Long Beach resident
who taught Math
at the same school
as me
He
helped me become
a proud
Starbucks
junkie
[and a constant reader]
We
jogged/walked
at least
500 miles
Discussing
almost as many
books/authors
He
retired
fifteen years
after I did
_____________
________
We will call
this "friend"
X
and the student
who told the story
was
Y
________
_____
X
was
teaching something
about
but
found it impossible
to make the students
understand it
Y
was a former student
of Oliverio
whose friend
Z
was in that class
Z
suggested a
"shortcut"
learned
from Oliverio
The entire class
applauded
louldly
________
_____
X
has managed
to avoid
Oliverio
ever since
______________________________________________________________________________________________
In the title, Friends appears in quotes
ReplyDeletebecause one of the novelists we discussed frequently
was Robert Penn Warren.
He once wrote something to the effect that
Your first friends are the most important friends:
Between BK, Peter Galasso, Jack McCarthy,
and Dr. Raft, I have collectively known the four of them
for more than 200 years and the day does not exist
where I contact less than two of them.
But my psychoanalyst is the only one
who bills me monthly
X is someone I never really knew
but all the exercise was great
-Oliverio