Ships that Pass in the Night

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The mind is a wonderful thing. 

I was driving through a snowstorm in the Boston area, and for some reason I thought about an old construction boss - Bob McClure.

Bob was pushing 70 when I worked for him back in 1986 so, he’s most likely long gone. But he was one of those tough old laborers. His fingers were all banged up. He walked with a heavy limp. Hard worker. 

Me and my buddy Zane nicknamed him Mad dog.

Then I thought about Zane. We were great friends.

Then I thought of a conversation we had as we were stripping forms off a concrete wall after a pour.

“I can just see old Mad Dog getting down and dirty with...

That’s where I lost the memory!!

My Dad’s secretary was a beautiful girl. I’m talking stunning! If she ever left the trailer every guy just stopped what they were doing just to watch her walk on past.

Zane was telling a joke about old Mad Dog and the beautiful blonde having a secret affair.

I remembered the conversation. Clear as day. I just DIDN’T remember her name.

And it drove me crazy! 

I started in the N’s - was it Nicole? Natalie? 

The N’s didn’t sound right.

Mile after mile, I thought about her.

Dad thought I should ask her out. “She’s a nice kid.”

I didn’t have the heart to tell Dad that she was WAY out of my range.

But I did have a brush with her.

One Sunday I played hoops in the driveway with my brother, Jeff. He used the head fake I taught him and I came down on my ankle.

Horrible sprain. Torn ligaments.

The next day I hobbled into work, and about ten minutes into the day I stepped off the edge of the concrete and I went down.

The blonde saw it. She actually helped me up and over to the office.

I laid on the table and she removed my work boot.

“Oh my Gawd!” She yelled.

Of course the ankle was swollen and black and blue.

“That just happened?”

“Well.”

What was her name???

What did she look like now?

Did she have a good life??

“J,” I whispered. “It started with a ‘J’.”

I hustled through the ‘J’ names.

Nothing sounded right. I thought about the Seinfeld episode.

It definitely wasn’t ‘Delores.”

Mile after mile.

Damn!

I settled on JoLynn.

“That ain’t it,” I accepted about 20 miles later.

I had to stop obsessing about it.

Tried to capture the words as they came out of Zane’s mouth 34 years ago.

“Mad Dog and —“

Damn!

Three hours later, a song popped on my car stereo.

“Angeline,” By James McMurtry.

It definitely wasn’t Angeline...but...

...but...

...something was tickling my brain!

“Justine!” I screamed out.

It was definitely “Justine”.

Beautiful girl!

Mad Dog & Justine!

I hope all of her dreams came true.

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