Pete

I took my best friend Gary and the kids out for Mexican Buffet yesterday . I was craving food with some kind of flavor and this place keeps the buffet small, simple, well stocked, and tasty.

I was fixing the kid's plates when this little guy forces his way in front of me, grabs the spoon I was reaching for.....

and I knew immediately who it was.

I reached out and shook his hand, I hadn't seen Pete in several years. He is a hell of a character.

Back when I was about 22 and managing the inventory control department of the company I worked for, my mother called me unexpectedly and said the son of one of her co-workers needed a job. He had just moved from California, had been in some kind of trouble and needed a clean start.

I was hiring people like crazy so I called him in for an interview. He was breathing, could walk, talk and speak which actually made him overqualified.

I hired him and put him to work. Pete was a hard worker and always full of energy. For a little guy he was strong and could work circles around everyone else. I never had to get after him or bitch about any of his work.

As with the rest of the guys in my department, we started hanging out after work. We were all about the same age and the majority of us lived across the street in some section 8 apartments.

Soon, Pete moved into the same complex as us because his dad was a drug addled abusive asshole and he had to get away from him.

One day, Pete asked me to take him to the local tattoo and piercing place because he said there was a girl at work he wanted to impress. She wasn't much to look at, but Pete always saw the person underneath. I tried to tell him the girl was a lesbian but he said he could convert her...

I thought it was going to be an ear piercing...nope... ever hear of a Prince Albert?

Holy fuck! I had to leave the room to keep from puking. I could hear him laughing as I escaped out into the shop so I wouldn't have to look at that mess.

When I drove him back home I made sure to hit every bump and pothole on the way back.

Yeah I can be an asshole.

When the company laid everyone off and I quit, Pete and I still hung out even though most everyone else went their own separate ways, the apartments were bought out and rent was tripled so me and all the guys that I worked with had to find new places to live.

Pete went to truck driving school and became a long haul trucker. He wasn't afraid to try new stuff. Since he was on the road for 3 weeks out of the month My wife and I agreed to let him stay in our spare room. He was about the best house guest a person could have, he cooked for us, cleaned up after himself and knew when to leave us alone.

I let him borrow the Lincoln MKV I was restoring so he could take a girl to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. He was the only one I would trust with one of my cars. He had just sold me a rusted out and crunched up VW beetle for $200 so I drove that while he was gone.

The girl turned out to be a bitchy coke head and on the way back he lost traction on an icy bridge and broke the rear axle of the Lincoln. I told him to leave it there and take the bus home.

When he got back he gave me his income tax check to pay for the car...that's the kind of guy he is. All of my other friends would have just blown it off and not offered to pay anything.

Pete took another trucking job and we didn't see him for a while, we moved and lost track of each other.

It was good to see him after all this time. I'll have to give him a call and catch up.