danny the boy... a good kid


danny the boy... a good kid

passed danny on 18th Street in Adams Morgan the other day on my way home from work
snapped this shot as I rolled on through

it seems danny is having an instrospective moment
it is more common to see danny moving fast with a smile on his face

danny the boy... a good kid
danny is not so young
danny is a young man

when I was roughly danny's age I met a silver haired man
this man with wrinkled leather skin and slicked back silver hair was a grumpy old cowboy
the marlboro man angry at the world

pissed that he had to give up drinking
pissed about life

not sure why he had to give up drinking
he had to give up drinking for one reason or another
guess it had to do with him being a drunk
being a drunk motorcycle messenger would be a dangerous way to spend your day

when I came to know this man he was already not drinking
I did not know the drinker
I did not know the drunk
I knew the post drinker with chip on the shoulder exterior
his bark did not chase me away
we became friends... friends for twenty years
this man died a few years ago
the drinking did not kill him... the smoking did

a few months back I was thinking of my age and the age of those around me
I then thought about this friend of mine who had died two years prior
then I chased down some information
as I was curious of his age relative to mine
more specifically how old was this old man when I met him

the in loving memory card from his funeral gives me his date of birth
it matches up
he was old when I met him
he was real old when he died

every thursday this guy wore a red shirt
it was years before it was brought to my attention
I watched before I asked
finally I asked... why do you wear a red shirt every thursday?

because thursday is pay day
and I want people to know
just because I am getting paid today it does not mean that I am not in the red
I wonder how long he practiced that thursday tradition