to Cale

Cale had fallen into the wrong crowd. He was a good kid, but he had started making some bad decisions. Alex was a sweeg kid, but having trouble finding his place. She often found him lingering in class, wanting to chat with her during recess. When the graffiti in the boys’ bathroom was traced back to Cale and his bad-influence friend, it was the final straw and Cale lost his recess.

But this all proved to be too much. Recess was meant to be her time, but there was Alex with his puppy dog eyes pleading for her to give him attention. There was Cale cross-armed and scowling, breathing heavily. In a moment of desperation she caved. “You can go to recess, but only if you play with Alex.”


Did she know that they would go outside and, with no common interests, agree to play basketball? That they would win every game they played because Cale was a foot taller than anyone else and Alex knew his job was to pass the ball immediately back? 


Or that they would continue to be a team for the rest of grade 3?


Did she know that at 15, they would cruise the darkened streets of town in Cale’s beat-up Thunderbird, headlights turned off, scavenging garden gnomes from the flowerbeds of unsuspecting neighbors?


Or that at 17, Alex would be the designated driver, then drag Cale’s lumbering form quietly through his house without disturbing his parents?


Did she know that at 19, Alex, fraught with loneliness, would drive hours some weekends to sleep on the floor of Cale’s dorm room?


Or that at 22, they would both find apartments in Seattle and host dinner parties for each other’s friends, serving burnt lasagna and $2 bottles of wine?


Did she know that at 25, Alex would splurge on a flight home from India to stand barefoot on the beach as Cale promised his love and life to a wonderful woman?


Or that at 30, Cale would bring that indomitable wife to Ghana, hungry for adventure and searching for meaning in life, where they would live in Alex’s guest room, each evening cracking a beer on the terrace and trying to figure out how two kids from Montana ended up here?


Or that at 37, a pandemic would send them both back to Montana and Alex would play peek-a-boo from six feet away with Cale’s young daughter?


Did she know that this summer, now into their 40s, Cale and Alex would come together in Switzerland for a road trip across Europe?


Did their teacher really know what she was doing? Or did she just want a little peace and quiet during recess?


Comments

  1. HeidiMarch 5, 2023 at 6:25 PM

    Alex, I love how you chronicled this friendship. What a gift to have someone share milestones through your life. I imagine that your former teacher wanted both - a recess respite AND for her pupils to form a connection. A win win - what a wise woman. Heidi C (Wordsmithing blog)

    ReplyDelete
  2. AntissaMarch 5, 2023 at 9:20 PM

    Again: Congratulations! I want to have a writers workshop with you!!!Now!!!

    ReplyDelete

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