Spidey Sense
Derived from the “Spidey sense” of the comic book superhero Spiderman, it is generally used to mean a vague but strong sense of something being wrong, dangerous, suspicious, a security situation.Urban Dictionary
Eric and I have been friends for I’d say about forty years, give or take a few months. I hate the words best friend, but if you put a gun to my head and asked me to name them, Eric would be one. Eric and I grew up blocks apart. I went to his Halloween party when I was in first grade. I don’t remember my costume, I may have been a hot dog, but I do remember being in his basement. We grew up together, doing that stupid fun shit that you do when you grow up together. But while all that is going on, you don’t realize that you are becoming part of another family. Eric’s mom would make us snacks after school and there was one particular late night drive home from a concert with Eric’s dad that will be burned in my memory forever.
Eric moved out to California with his then wife years ago. I’ve visited him in both the San Francisco and San Diego areas where he has lived. He gets back to the east coast from San Diego once or twice a year to bring his kids to see his family here. Last summer we got our dad’s together and the four of us watched a ballgame on TV at Eric’s house.
This past week I got the phone call. Eric was in town and we left messages back and forth. When we finally caught up, Eric told me that his dad was now living in an assisted living center. His mom had passed away a few years back, just like mine, but the news of his dad had an impact. Eric told me that the house was on the market. I could immediately feel it in my bones that this would be my last visit to that house.
I went up to see Eric. He and his kids were staying in Eric’s childhood house. After a dinner of Chinese food, we all went back to the house so Eric and I could have a few beers and catch up. But it became apparent to me that this would be the last time I would be in the house. Much of the furniture is already gone, but the house still has the memories. Eric took me through the entire house; even into rooms where I’d never been before. The furniture was gone but the echos were there. This place is like my second childhood home. This was the house where Eric had his wedding reception, and it was the place he told me that he was getting a divorce. It was the place where we got away from our parents to drink in high school and the place where we drank in front of our dads six months earlier. Eric started pulling things out of cabinets and sharing his own memories. I made an offhand comment to him about taking whatever he wanted, this would probably be his last chance. He agreed.
We went through the liquor cabinet. Everything was at least 30 years old. The tax labels were still present on the bottles. Eric pulled out a bunch of different decanters. He was guessing their origin. Maybe they were gifts to his dad, maybe they were his grandmother’s, he wasn’t really sure. We searched them out on eBay; checking values like we were on some reality show. One was cooler than the next. When Eric finally took stock of the situation, he told me to take two of them. He realized he couldn’t bring them back with him and he knew that his brother would just toss them when the house sold.
A friend of mine, a collector, once said “we never really own anything we collect, we just hold on to it for the next guy”. I’m happy to say that while I hold on to these two decanters for the next guy, I’ll be reclaiming memories of my past. Boring stories to all but me and Eric, but if you pull up a chair and a glass, I’ll share them anyway.
Jack straight no chaser
The Stage Driver is still filled with whiskey. It has a date of 1976 on the bottom. The fire extinguisher is empty, but the music box on the bottom will still play “How Dry I Am” if you wind it. It also dates back to the 70′s. I decided not to open the Stage Driver, it means more to me the way it is. I did pour some Jack Daniel’s into the fire extinguisher. It seemed apropos.
I made a resolution to myself today to get out to California this year. I have lots of reasons to go.
