Old Man in Repose
Friday is pizza day for the guys in the neighborhood. I told Tony I would meet him on Oakley today, and, true to his word, he was there at 12:00 as I drove up. As I went to park, I noticed a figure asleep on the couch. He turned his head to look at me, so I asked him if he wanted some pizza and root beer too.
"No. I want a steak is what I want."
"Wel,, I don't have no damn steak. I got pizza. You want it or not?"
Sure, I guess. I got nothing better to do."
That was my introduction to Tommy Lee, aka Old Man. It turns out that Old Man was best friends with Too Tall, a local resident who died about 5 years ago. I told him he looked a bit like Too Tall, and he told me the story of how Too Tall died, and that he was with him when he died. He said that Too Tall knew he was going to die, and he asked Old Man to do him a favor and score him "one last rock" before he went. He got it and gave it to Too Tall, but that Too Tall didn't even smoke it. He died in the Nursing Home, with the rock in his hand. Maybe he just wanted to hold it one last time.
I'm never really sure how much of these stories are truth, how much are exaggeration, and how much are "delusions of grandeur". And since I will really never know, I cannot argue if Old Man tells me it's true.
Old Man in Repose
Friday is pizza day for the guys in the neighborhood. I told Tony I would meet him on Oakley today, and, true to his word, he was there at 12:00 as I drove up. As I went to park, I noticed a figure asleep on the couch. He turned his head to look at me, so I asked him if he wanted some pizza and root beer too.
"No. I want a steak is what I want."
"Wel,, I don't have no damn steak. I got pizza. You want it or not?"
Sure, I guess. I got nothing better to do."
That was my introduction to Tommy Lee, aka Old Man. It turns out that Old Man was best friends with Too Tall, a local resident who died about 5 years ago. I told him he looked a bit like Too Tall, and he told me the story of how Too Tall died, and that he was with him when he died. He said that Too Tall knew he was going to die, and he asked Old Man to do him a favor and score him "one last rock" before he went. He got it and gave it to Too Tall, but that Too Tall didn't even smoke it. He died in the Nursing Home, with the rock in his hand. Maybe he just wanted to hold it one last time.
I'm never really sure how much of these stories are truth, how much are exaggeration, and how much are "delusions of grandeur". And since I will really never know, I cannot argue if Old Man tells me it's true.