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memories
As I walked down the cold, windy street images flash before my eyes: It’s winter, Steve, James and I are laughing while throwing snow at each other on this same stretch of sidewalk. It’s fall, and we hurry as we make our way to Quincy High School at two in the morning. It’s mid-summer, and James and I sit on the lawn and talk about life. That last image stuck with me.
I remembered, very clearly, us sitting on our backs in front of the big blue dollhouse, the sky was a crisp, ocean blue, with a few fluffy clouds.
“What are you going to do when you graduate?” I asked.
“Join the USAF. I want my wings.”
I smiled; I knew he’d get them. I was right. “How about you?”
“I want to travel the world. Maybe move to England. I don’t have the money to go there though.” He smiled one of his smiles like I knew he would, because he knew someday I would go there, I don’t know how but he did, and he was right. I have been living in England for the past six years, and I am on my way to re-unite with my two oldest, and best friends. But right then I didn’t know any of that. All I knew was I was with my best friend in the world who I would gladly trust my life with. I knew right then that I would die for him, and he would have done the same for me. After all it was James and Steve’s motto that Good friends don’t let friends do stupid things, BEST friends don’t let friends do stupid things alone.
So one night James and Steve went out partying. They didn’t have a way to get home so they took James’s car. Now I know you think you know where this is going, but I can tell you its not. James hadn’t had a single thing to drink, and neither had Steve, they didn’t need to, those two could get high on life. Anyway they started racing these other kids, and the kid didn’t want to lose so he swerved in front of James. James was one of the best Drivers I knew, but even he couldn’t have seen this coming. The kid undershot it and hit James’s hood at seventy-eight miles an hour. James swerved and hit a telephone pole. The police were called and an ambulance showed but there was nothing to be done.
The next day James got his wings, just not the same ones most people hope for, but nonetheless he got them. Steve and James are next to each other, forever, the way best friends should be, together, and we are all best friends, forever. But now I have reached the end of the school, and my thoughts jump back to the weather, which is crisp, and windy, and I make my way to the T-station, where I would see the man who hit James and Steve. The man who gave James his wings. He would just stare at me as I walked by, and I would stare back, not cruelly, because I can forgive him, but I can never forget, whereas he can’t forgive himself, but sometimes he can forget. Sometimes.
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