There were scenes from his first senior class play (My Sister, Eileen), along with a list of What was happening in 1980. Silver threads among the gold and all that, but still, for a 55 year old guy, he was OK. He hadn't changed so much (he didn't think). His own 23 year old face smiled back at him. He took a swig, relaxed deeper into his chair and opened the cover.ġ980. The scrapbook on his lap was heavy and thick. Rich had resigned the previous year in lieu of being fired for inappropriate behavior with a female student. “At least you are leaving in good standing,” the principal sighed, referring to Rich Slator, the freshman class math teacher. “If there is one thing a good actor knows, it is when to exit the stage.” “But everyone loves you!” he had pleaded, over coffee in the teachers' lounge. Just today, Principal Ellis had tried again to talk him out of retiring. That was good.Īs Anthony sipped, his mind floated over the past week all the emotional good-byes and best wishes. He reclined back, and set the bottle on the end table where his parents (tanned and healthy) smiled at him from a framed photo taken on the golf course. He took the bottle, glass and scrapbook to the easy chair by the front window. Shriveled leaf corpses from last autumn covered the porch and the few pieces of lawn furniture were dingy from spending winter months exposed to the elements. While the Himalayan chowed down, Anthony moved to the window and peered through the slated blinds. He opened a can of Fancy Feast, forked it into a bowl and watched as Gus came running. He picked up the bottle and walked to the kitchen where he got a juice glass from the cabinet above the microwave and poured a shot.

A scrapbook presented to him by the cast of the senior class play, and a bottle of Scotch a gift from Principal Ellis. While Gus tentatively sniffed at the squirrel, Anthony's eyes fell on two things among the jumble. People expected a little eccentricity in the creatively gifted, and who was he to disappoint? After all, being “artsy” had its advantages. “Just look at this, Gus! 32 years worth of stuff!”Īnthony talked to his cat frequently and was not ashamed of the fact. And no telling what was lurking in those boxes. Coffee mugs, lost for decades, had emerged from dark corners and from under ancient props. The assortment of odds and ends he had accumulated in his teaching career was dismaying. Gus promptly pounced up to check out the wealth of unexplored riches. Survived by one bad cat”.Įventually making it into the dining room, Anthony set the boxes down on the table. Anthony Caprice apparently tripped over his own feet, hit his head on the dining room table, and died on his first evening of retirement from Gerald R. “BELOVED HIGH SCHOOL DRAMA TEACHER FOUND DEAD. He imagined the headline in tomorrow's paper. He began to walk in the shuffling gait of an old man, neither foot actually leaving the ground as he moved forward. He tilted his body back slightly and felt it all settle into place. Two battered travel mugs and a grinning stuffed squirrel teetered on top of the boxes. He eased the front door closed behind him, carefully leaning to the right as the three cartons balanced in his arms swayed to the left. When the dawn comes, tonight will be a memory, too.Īnd a new day will begin.

Blue sparrow coffee