Dear Diary,
I never got to talk about Don and Betty. I was really knocked off my rocker when Stan showed up (actually, two days before me). I'll tell you later how the reunion went. But a little history about longtime friends first.
That delightful pair were friends of my parents since college days, back before the war. They had books and coffee and cigarettes in common. Arguments over what current author was making the greatest impact on impressionable American youth could go on way past midnight. Sometimes at their home, sometimes ours. I clearly remember falling asleep on the huge brown davenport in their spacious L-shaped living room. It was in the ell that Betty had floor-to-ceiling bookshelves. She generously lent dozens of books to my mother and - get this - to my baby brother! He would tuck himself cozily away in a little nook between the old upright piano (a Chickering) and the potted Kentia, reading this and reading that and reading the other. Don't forget, I was the one asleep on the big D ... like I should brag about that!
That only scratches the surface of their friendship. When my parents "got religion," they spent less and less time with all their old friends. Nothing as bad as a rift or such: NEVER DISCUSS POLITICS OR RELIGION! Well, politics - maybe. They simply drifted apart - church activities for us (I say "us" with reservations) and cultural and political events for B & D.
I was doing my thing - cars and idly watching the waves at our coastal retreat. And Stan was doing his thing - daydreaming, reading and painting scenes of the coast and gentle Pacific. All this, I'd say, in equal proportion time-wise and under the watchful eyes and tutelage of Betty. Those two were an inseparable pair, who flourished and basked in mutual admiration. Mom and Dad trusted their friends implicitly and never let the insanity of religious fervor divide them. I don't think Don and Betty went to church; it simply was not discussed.
You might think that Stan and I were from two different planets. You're correct, we are. But we have a link that goes beyond genetics and shared environment ...
