15 Years Ago Yesterday

Was my last day as a Manny 😭😭😭😭

“Well, hi everybody,” Beval said as she walked into the living room, and Chuck sprinted at her to give her a hug. I leaned my head back so it was on the chair, and exhaled.

It was over. I was done.

I walked three blocks over to Metropolitan and Powers, where I decided to finish the job in style, by calling a car to take me home. “Hello, Metroline.” “Hi, I’m at Metropolitan and Powers.” “Where you going?” “Metropolitan and Wythe.” “Five minutes.” I put the phone back in my pocket and waited on the corner. I began to think about The Nest, with everyone loving to hear how I watched Chuck, and I remembered Charlie Brown saying something about a book. Hell, maybe I should write that book. Instead of worrying about making something out of myself, maybe I already had. Maybe in our three years together, I’d grown as much as Chuck had – at worst, him showing me that I didn’t have to be a loser for the rest of my life might have been the one small step that would make all the difference. As I looked across the thick, hazy street, images of our days together began rolling in front of me like an old film. I saw him getting bigger, talking and laughing, going from a pile of skin that did nothing but sleep and cry to a little boy; by the end of the movie, I was shocked at how much he’d changed. And in every image, I was with him. And he was with me. He was my best friend. Suddenly I ran around the corner as fast as I could and crouched down with my back against a brick building, squatting as if I was a catcher behind home plate. I crossed my arms on my knees, laid my head on my arms, and cried without control.