mr. fisher

tony and i were clearing a pile of crap out of our closet.

where does all this crap come from?!!

old crossword puzzle books, barbie shoes, new year's eve hats and noisemakers, magazines, a plastic dinosaur, a dust buster (unused and still in the box), sweatshirts, a weight lifting belt, wrapping paper.

and, of course, old pictures. for some reason, every time i'm going through my crap i find old pictures.

and here's a real keeper. it must have been taken about 1970. it's on monroe street in santa clara.

the old dude is mr. fisher, our saintly old building manager, a veteran of WWI. he and his wife used to look after my brother and me after school.

as far as i know this is the only picture i have of him.

in the background you can see the farm adjacent to my grade school, walter g. brown.

alas, the farm, the school and mr. fisher are no more. in fact, i'm not sure if the apartment building is still there. i'll have to check next time i'm in santa clara.

probably is, though. when's the last time you saw an ugly 1960's walk up apartment building getting demolished? those things just seem to last forever.

in fact, i wouldn't be surprised if, by the time i'm an old geezer like mr. fisher, those walkups with the iron rails all start going condo and getting all fashionable.

i can just see the young professionals of 2043 scouring antique shops for gigantic ash trays, beaded curtains, butterfly mobiles and psychedelic daisy stickers in an effort to recreate that authentic "love american style"/rhoda's apartment look.

hmmmmm. maybe i should make one more pass through that crap from the closet.

Kurt "big daddy" True
6 july 2003