Guy from High School

The other day I was at the hospital, and after finishing my appointment, I went to the small food court that consisted solely of an Au Bon Pain and a Sbarro's. At the Sbarro's I ordered a couple slices and waited at the register, and manning said register was a guy I knew from high school. I said hi to him as I paid for my food, and he recognized me fairly quickly. We were never really friends, but he lived down the road from me and once lent me Super Smash Bros because we both liked Nintendo. He was one of those people who took the bus to and from school well into high school (myself included) because they didn't have a car or weren't allowed to use it. At the time, I couldn't tell if he was depressed by that fact as much as I was, but we did have some interesting conversations on that bus. After 9/11, he was convinced that the super bowl was going to be fixed in favor of the Patriots to bring up the country's morale. He said, "Don't you see? Their name is the 'Patriots' and they're being praised in the press for their great 'defense', just like America's defense against terrorism!" We also gossiped about video games and agreed that "Apocalypse Now" is an overrated movie, but the bus was the only time we interacted because he was in a grade older than me.

He smiled as we made small talk across the register. Was he happy with his job working at the Sbarro's in the hospital food court? Was it a transitional job or had he been there since graduation? Did he even go to college? I didn't ask these things, but I wondered about all three simultaneously to some extent as my two pizza slices slowly toasted. The slices were ready at just the right time, because I'd finished answering all three stock questions: i went to MIT, I studied math, and I'm in a transitional period looking for jobs. I should walk around with tape players that say those three things, like Brian Wilson at that meeting with his record label.

I had a classmate two years younger than me in high school who someone described to me once as an elitist who knows that he's an elitist. At the time, I couldn't understand how a person could be like that and be okay with it, but now I'm understanding.