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a quickie for Ron Sheppard

Listening to:	fridge hum
Reading:	Magic Street, OS Card
Weather:	rainy, 60

He'd have appreciated the title, I figure. A groovy little old dude I knew from Morgantown days died yesterday, Ron Sheppard 3/30/38-5/16/11. He was a seeker and a naturalist and lover of women. He was a tremendous landscape painter, painted on sawblades and whatnot. He played flute. Had a "let's get naked" smile a lot of the time.

Last I remember spending more than a few hello minutes with him was several years ago, how many I can't even guess. For some reason I was at 123 Pleasant on a weeknight listening to some drum and bass and watching the youngsters do some strange dance. This is all very uncharacteristic of me so I really question the memory, but let's go with it. I see Ron. He's trying to sweet talk some 20 something out of her thong. Wasn't working. But he was just rolling with it. He saw me, we chatted for a bit, not easy to do in a sea of drumnbass. So he suggests we go upstairs and burn one.

So we did. I think we encountered some other old acquaintances on the way back down, and we all stood around for another little while watching the dancers and enjoying the thump. Then my memory ends. We probably took off and went our separate ways up on High Street, or maybe I gave him a ride somewhere.

He was a guy who believed in love and beauty and was genuinely delightful to encounter. I haven't seen him in years and I'm sorry for that. When I think back on my golden age of Morgantown, my ripe years of the mid-80's, there are many local characters that make up the carvings of the landscape in my brain. Slowly they are dying off, and that landscape is getting less detailed, like fancy sandcastles getting eroded by a creeping tide. The bits are all still there, but getting rearranged, I guess.

Gotta run, time for work, it was just a quickie.

permalink posted by cat 8:22 AM

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