Up a Creek in Lower Slower Delaware

I wasn’t certain if I wanted to do this.  I don’t want to come across as morbid, but I am getting older and it should be expected.  Plus, I feel that everyone should be remembered in some way.  Yes, it has to do with a death. 

 My friend, Agnes,  called to tell me another old friend of ours, Ray,  had died.   We worked together for several years.  He was a clerk when I started infiles.  I moved on up, but he was always a clerk.  He was a bachelor and he told me once that he was perfectly happy being a clerk.  He had a little place of his own, a couple of cats and his opera collection.

We were opera buddies.  We saw Pavarotti together and had season tickets to the Baltimore Opera for a few years.  We were at the opera once, watching Romeo and Juliet.  They were played by a young, nice looking couple.  We were watching the bedroom scene.  Romeo had on white tights.  That’s all.  Juliet was wearing a filmy nightgown.  The scene was very beautiful and moving.  There wasn’t a dry eye in the place.  Ray leaned over and whispered in my ear.  “Picture this scene with Jessye Norman and Luciano Pavarotti.”  It was all I could do to keep from laughing out loud.  I could have beaten him to death.  But that was Ray.  He absolutely loved it.

I’ll never forget you, Ray.

This entry was posted on July 6, 2009 at 1:25 am and is filed under Family and Friends. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.