Mark Twain,
Well, the hit parade isn't over. At the risk of being Obituarieish it happened again. Really that's a word. I used it in Scrabble. Anyway, my old buddy Ellery texted me and said Charlie Price is dead. Crap. Not sure if it has always been like this or I am just recognizing it more, but folks from my circle just seem to be tipping over so to speak. I don't even have a picture of him. Aything I might have had long lost. I knew Charlie because for a period in the 80's we worked together as Parole Officers. After a couple of years Charles moved on, working overseas for the Embassy Service. Though at that time he worked in an Organisation of even then, a thousand folks or so, for that brief period of time the Director of that Organization knew him personally and honored him with the title of that Fffin something something guy. See Charles was a bit oppositional. Rather a standout on this point. Talking about him in 2014, well that means Charlie occupied a piece of the lives of the people in my circle. He sure lives on in mine. Plainly speaking, Charles was a memory maker. I can't say it was all good, but it sure was real. I always thought of Charles as the Michael Belker of P&P for those that remember "Hill Street Blues". He was as big hearted and generous as he was ornery. He loved and procreated often and even adopted a little girl . To say he was a scrapper would be to disrespect him. All 5'9" of him. More he was a force to be reckoned with. A Vietnam Vet. Well educated with a BA and MA Degrees. When he walked into a room. Well, you just knew he was there. My memories of Charlie are more humorous. When I first met Charles, the first words out of his mouth other than "Charlie Price" was "what have you got?". "Excuse me "I said. Ever the Horsetrader he said "What have you got that you might want to trade?" Over the next few years I wound up with quite a bit of Charlie's property and he mine. He took us to a fancy brunch one Sunday. After our bellies were full of fancy grub and a fair share of Champagne, He then told us brunch was to pay us for the sheetrock we would be hanging at his house afterwards. Though willing, you might as well have asked us to perform brain surgery. The number of holes created in that sheetrock while trying to drive a nail, well, after we sobered up we also found he had a good sense of humor. Once we were sent to arrest an dangerous offender. Upon arrival we were met with the eerie scene of a door hanging off a hinge, loud rock and roll music playing and blood everywhere. Used to spell innocuous words on the wall. I recall the transformation to pure business as he took the lead entering that house as I followed. The story had a not so dramatic ending as the offender gave up and the blood turned out to be an unsuccessful suicide attempt, but Charles left an impression on me that day that far surpassed any other opinion. He was pure courage. On an occasion when we were sluffing and hanging out in a Waldenbooks one day waiting for five O'Clock, Charles was browsing a Coffee table type of book concerning the Vietnam War. All of a sudden he looks at me and says, "damn, thats a good picture of me." And it was. There was a full page black and white picture of a much younger man sitting behind sandbags holding an M16 guarding an Airfield. Taken by a war photographer without his knowledge. An apt symbol for the Don Quixote side of his nature. For Charles there was always one more battle to be fought. For a time we were pretty good friends. Charles called me a few times the past several years but I was pretty wrapped up in my own life. I haven't seen him now probably a good ten years but I don't suspect Charles made a very pretty corpse. He didn't live his life quietly nor take defeat gracefully. He was probably chewed up as much by divorce lawyers as he was the war or any other of his overseas adventures. Which I'm told there are a few. I suspect Charles has left a much bigger hole in a lot of lives more than mine. I didn't even know if he had remarried from his last Divorce or not, but Charles left a whole host of good looking kids. And isn't that the way you are supposed to go out? And I'm told he's going to be buried with military honors. I guess the reason I am writing this is because beyond all else, I liked Charles and at one time I am pretty sure he liked me. For a few years Charles was somebody I looked up to. More for his experience, tenacity and courage than his oppositional side. I didn't know if I would even see him again, though I was certain I would hear of him, latest exploits and all. Unfortunately, it was of his passing. The world is just a little more diminished. RIP Charles.
So as Ellery and I were texting back and forth he suggested we live so long we bankrupt our retirement fund. Hell Yeah.
In fairness, Charles was not a biter, also in fairness, Charle's thing was more finger bending.
Mike n' Lisa's quest blog UA-20271220-1 ga(‘set’, ‘&uid’, {{USER_ID}}); // Set the user ID using signed-in user_id.
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