The Dark-Haired Boy

Terrence N. Tysall

The dark-haired boy walked across the classroom towards me. Little did I know that this simple act would change my life forever. The two of us were six years old…six, it hardly seems possible, this is a number that people measure durations of relationships… of car payments… of living in a house… of working at a job. But even at six, I knew that he was different from anyone I would ever know.

If I close my eyes, as I’m going to ask all of you to do, a flood of memories sweeps over me… a flood of life. Most are merely glimpses… like photographs… some yellowing with age, others so intense that to this day my mind’s eye must still squint to gaze at their brilliance. Pictures of two little boys racing through forests, swamps, and summers. These same boys dragging their way through seemingly endless school days, while teachers droned on, as they dreamed of far off places… of battles fought… of exotic lands waiting to be explored.

This pair was sometimes labeled “troublemakers” for to them it seemed that the rest of the world just lived at too tranquil a place and occasionally they needed waking up. I look back at the brothers, sisters, fathers, and friends that suffered due to this pair’s boredom… sometimes I still cringe… but I still smile. I quite purposely omitted mothers for I know two who deserve special mention, for each of us was fortunate to have two… I think we needed two on occasion… then again, maybe it was planned that way from the beginning. And I know the dark-haired boy is with his other mom now, watching over her, as I will watch over my living mom… and I have to smile knowing that he is probably trying to explain some of our actions in the past to her as we speak.

The dark-haired boy grew… much stronger and quicker than I, and as happens to little boys that are trying to find the elusive path to manhood, we both took side paths and explored different routes, but without fail at the end of each of these paths, we always managed to join forces again and forge onward. I don’t think the dark-haired boy ever realized the strength he was to me during those confusing growing times… the times when even though no one is against you… it seems everyone is. We always managed to find one another, and back-to-back when the adolescent haze began to clear, we were standing tall.

Together the dark-haired boy and I began exploring many new mysteries… who we were, where we were going, and of course the greatest enigma in the universe… women. Oh ladies if you only knew how many conversations you sparked that lasted into the early hours of the morning between us.

How our mothers ever had the strength to let us embark on our unchaperoned adventures escapes me. It is because of a great many of these that we became who we are… and for your wisdom and patience, I thank you, for both of us. All of the sleepless nights these two women spent while we fished, camped, or hiked the far off places. I pray that some day I may attain a fraction of their parental ability.

Our adult paths took us far apart physically, often to opposite sides of the world. But I always knew that a letter would find me no matter where I traveled. How eagerly I awaited every one. I so often wished back then, that the dark-haired boy could be at my side, but at this stage our paths were on different planes. Each time I journeyed home, he would be the first I came to see. I vividly remember us having a conversation with a group of people in which we were discussing our various lifestyles… at one point, one of the assemblage shook their head and said that we had a death wish. We stopped, looked at each other, and said, “not a death wish, a life wish!”

There are so many images that I can recall about the dark-haired boy…
The first time we met…
The hours spent at frozen bus stops…
The hours of drawing in class when we should have been studying…
Sunwashed evenings of fishing…
The huge trout that got away…
The Muck Monster…
The night of terror in Tampa Bay…
The first jobs…
The first dates…
The first cars…
The first apartment…
His first dive…
His first skydive…
His first swim with a dolphin…
Carrying my Mother…

I can never have a friendship rooted in the pure soil of youthful innocence, strengthened by the storms of growing. Today I realized I am not only saying goodbye to the dark-haired boy, but also to the little blond boy that ran through all of those endless summers with him. Yes, I am sad… but more than that I must be thankful, for he gave me experiences of unparalleled richness for which I can never repay him. I intend to go out into this world and tell everyone about the dark-haired boy that helped shape me! True to form, the explorer in him has taken him far ahead of me yet again, but wait for me my friend for we will have adventures anew together when my work here is finished. I love you Lee.

You all knew the dark-haired boy…
He was your Son…
He was your Grandson…
He was your Brother…
He was your Workmate…
He was your lover…
He was a clown…
He was your friend…
He was a warrior…
He was an explorer…

He was my best friend…