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.
Up a Creek in Lower Slower Delaware 