Nov. 9: Reunion
I went to my high school reunion on the 10th anniversary of my
graduation. It was a pub crawl. Someone had rented a school bus and I
spent the evening riding from bar-to-bar with a group of other
28-year-olds, most of whom wanted to act like they were 16. Someone
brought a joint out and started passing it around. It came to me and I
refused. Someone made to come over and hold me down and force the joint
between my lips. I am not a violent man but I would have kicked him hard
if he'd even come one step closer.
We former Grandin students exchanged tales of debauchery and where-are-they-now? I heard about one guy who had killed himself because he didn't want to come out as gay. I heard about another girl who'd allegedly slept with two different guys on prom night. I entertained the masses with my story of a chance meeting with the school's former butterball. In high school, the guy was massively overweight and had no social skills whatsoever. I ran into him in a movie theatre when I was 24. He had lost a lot of weight, toned up, and was working as a police officer.
There was a blonde girl I remembered from my math 10 class. She asked if I still did magic and I said that I did and offered to show her a trick. Halfway through it, a drunk guy sat next to her, put an arm around her, and asked if she'd like to be his girlfriend just for the night. She politely told him no. He looked pointedly at me and then back at her. He said: "Remember that it's not length you want. It's girth." Then he lumbered off in search of a conquest.
I guess I was sad on reunion night. My high school girlfriend wasn't there (she was living in Victoria) and I wonder if I was sad because I was hoping she'd be there. Some of her friends were there and they later told her that I seemed sad at the reunion and when my high school girlfriend sent me an email asking me why I was so sad, I said that I didn't know.
There was a guy in my Drama 10 class who didn't much care for me back in 1988. I remember hearing him say some unkind things about me to his buddies when I was out of sight. I saw him at the reunion and he asked me if I was an actor.
"I studied it in college," I said.
"Yeah I always knew you would," he said. "You were always really good at that."
I guess he didn't remember what he said in 1988 and I decided to replace those words with the ones he told me in 2001.
When the school bus dropped us off back in the southwest part of the city, I left my former classmates and walked into Tramp's, used music store in the Southland Crossing stripmall. A tall native walked in and asked the clerk if he could listen to Shania Twain on one of the playstations.
After he was plugged in, the clerk told me that the native was there almost every night so he could listen to Shania Twain. He was so poor that he couldn't afford a stereo of his own.
"He's in love with Shania Twain," the clerk said.
"I hope he's happy," I replied.
And then I went home.
We former Grandin students exchanged tales of debauchery and where-are-they-now? I heard about one guy who had killed himself because he didn't want to come out as gay. I heard about another girl who'd allegedly slept with two different guys on prom night. I entertained the masses with my story of a chance meeting with the school's former butterball. In high school, the guy was massively overweight and had no social skills whatsoever. I ran into him in a movie theatre when I was 24. He had lost a lot of weight, toned up, and was working as a police officer.
There was a blonde girl I remembered from my math 10 class. She asked if I still did magic and I said that I did and offered to show her a trick. Halfway through it, a drunk guy sat next to her, put an arm around her, and asked if she'd like to be his girlfriend just for the night. She politely told him no. He looked pointedly at me and then back at her. He said: "Remember that it's not length you want. It's girth." Then he lumbered off in search of a conquest.
I guess I was sad on reunion night. My high school girlfriend wasn't there (she was living in Victoria) and I wonder if I was sad because I was hoping she'd be there. Some of her friends were there and they later told her that I seemed sad at the reunion and when my high school girlfriend sent me an email asking me why I was so sad, I said that I didn't know.
There was a guy in my Drama 10 class who didn't much care for me back in 1988. I remember hearing him say some unkind things about me to his buddies when I was out of sight. I saw him at the reunion and he asked me if I was an actor.
"I studied it in college," I said.
"Yeah I always knew you would," he said. "You were always really good at that."
I guess he didn't remember what he said in 1988 and I decided to replace those words with the ones he told me in 2001.
When the school bus dropped us off back in the southwest part of the city, I left my former classmates and walked into Tramp's, used music store in the Southland Crossing stripmall. A tall native walked in and asked the clerk if he could listen to Shania Twain on one of the playstations.
After he was plugged in, the clerk told me that the native was there almost every night so he could listen to Shania Twain. He was so poor that he couldn't afford a stereo of his own.
"He's in love with Shania Twain," the clerk said.
"I hope he's happy," I replied.
And then I went home.
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