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A Taste of Dusk
(For Dick & Angie)

Joseph J. Ridgway

It was the early 1960’s when high school was everything
it should have been, and all that it shouldn’t.

Drinking and driving was not only the norm, it was
weekend routine, along with partying and fighting, if needed.

We fantasized finding a Mrs. Robinson, while reality
found us experiencing uncertainty with women our own age.

Forecasted by brittle branches and gray leaves, the inevitable illnesses and
deaths took seats at our 50^th reunion; perennials until we weren’t.

Dick was too ill to attend, so we gathered in his hospital room and
retold tall tales until his comedic spirit forced him to smile.

The last time we saw him alive was at his daughter’s home; we
stood like silent tombstones — surrounding his bed.

He felt like shit and was cranky as hell; so one by one,
we wandered off like tumbleweeds — collecting at the kitchen table.

But in short time, he appeared in his wheelchair—
rolled out by Angie, his high school sweetheart and angelic wife of many years.

She gently parked him next to me. I instinctively reached
under the table and privately held his hand.

He looked at me with calm astonishment — both of us a bit bewildered.
But I like to think it was just what he needed.
I know it worked for me.

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