Time warp, 2001 edition in A New Chapter

As a parent, I think a train of new thoughts is part of the package.
Thinking about different things I didn’t think about as much before..such as my health, financial responsibilities, mortality, parenthood, etc.

With those thoughts, I remembered my friend Gary.
We met back in 5th grade. We had some things in common, we were neighbors, we were both of Italian heritage, had gone to Catholic school early on, etc. In fact, we kinda bonded since we sat across each other during math. I would chew on my cross necklace and he would too. The teacher yelled at us and I stopped.

We started hanging out and riding the bus together. We had many adventured. Honestly, some of them..if someone randomly told me them as their stories, I would call bullshit.

Summer of 2000. Gary’s family owned a large farm (I know, a farm in Central New Jersey..but they exist.) As a small summer job, he paid us some money to dig some holes, it was hot as hell. Suddenly, Gary hit something that sounded like glass. He dug up a jar, partially muddy, full of money. We kept digging, and digging, and digging. We found multiple jars full of muddy, wet money. It was around $3,000. For a kid, in the year 2000, that was insane. I remember we took it to his home. Dried it and had an amazing summer.

My other neighbor was an old WWII vet. One of those that would say “did your people learn your lesson during the war, son?” when he would find out you were Italian. I sometimes did yard work for him and asked him about the farm. He told me a guy who hated the feds and banks lived there. We assume that he planted the money in jars because he lost a lot during the recession. But, just our conclusion from the bits we gathered.

or..the time we got into a fight riding the bus. stopped traffic.

I can’t even remember why, but riding home once we got into a fight. I ended up hurting Gary and making him cry. Gary knew I had a huge crush on a girl named Annie that rode the bus. Annie’s brother, Greg, was a big punk (as in rocker, not piece of shit) and we kinda knew him. Gary screamed “Hey Greg!?? guess what? he likes your sister.”
You see, this bus was a bit wild. Because it took both the middle schoolers and high schoolers. Which in my opinion, was a shit show. The high schoolers would try to fight us, tease us or date us (if you were a girl of course.) They were having a blast and kept going “ohhhh” “ahhh” etc.
I yelled “FUCK YOU MOTHERFUCKER!” and punched Gary and we started brawling. The bus driver was this little old man that looked like the farmer from “Courage The Cowardly Dog.” He kept doing the big ol’ “what’s going on back there children!? don’t make me stop.” After a few minutes, we had been separated and we were both crying. One of the high school girls, Nicole, came to comfort me (cute.) Greg was like “you okay dude? what the hell just happened” and even Annie kept saying “it’s ok..relax.”

We made up a few hours later and had a good laugh about it. Ironically, in all the rage Annie had said “I think you’re handsome. stop. maybe we can talk sometime on the phone.” I didn’t even hear it and I found out about it weeks later. Fucking bullshit.

Gary and I loved military stuff, the movies, the camping, etc. We would pretend to do missions around his farm with walkies-talkies, flashlights, etc. He got a nice pair of walkies-tlakies and we would talk every evening before bed. One night he didn’t answer. I didn’t think too much of it, but then I didn’t see him at the bus stop or at school. The teachers knew we were very good friends and they asked me, I assumed he was sick.

I got home and called him on the phone to see if he was okay. His mom just kinda said he would call me back another day. But he wasn’t at the bus stop the next day. I wouldn’t hear from him for a few days.

Gary’s dad was a big ol’ fat dude that looked like a trucker. His family was wealthy and they owned many businesses. At some point, a young blonde had stolen him from Gary’s mom. I had met her a few times, she was one of those that gave me the vibe that she was nice in public..but a bitch behind the curtains. I was right. She was terrible to Gary and his five siblings.

One night, the oldest brother, ate a pack of oreos before dinner. He was not hungry and the stepmom flipped shit. She beat the shit out of this boy (who was 2 years older than us or so.) Gary and the siblings called the bio mom who came to pick them up and took them about an hour away. It all felt really bittersweet. I lost a good friend, let alone a good friend that lived across the street. How much better of a deal can you get at that age? we spoke on the phone a few times after that but we didn’t really manage to keep in touch. Which I regret deeply. He called me one Christmas to wish me a Merry one and I just never called back, not because I was a dick..I just forgot.

I remember telling one teacher about it when she asked if I ever heard from him again. Her eyes got huge. Who knows what happened.

Around 2004 we got a letter from an old neighbor, not the WWII one, a nice one. They were moving to TN and they were saying goodbye and giving us a last neighborhood update. Apparently Gary’s dad passed away.

I suppose as a father, remembering that story just hit differently.
But also, who knows? I only ever heard one account. Was there more? was it resolved?
did I forget parts over the years? I’m sure a lot of pieces are missing.

Anyways, I’m out.