Friday Five Time in Big Stupid Tommy Land

Playing along:

1. Do you remember your first best friend? Who was it?

The Incredible Hulk. He was invisible, and could sometimes turn into a bumblebee. We played in a mud puddle one time, but mostly sat in the back of my parents' old yellow pickup truck and talked shop.

2. Are you still in touch with this person?

One night, a couple of years ago, I got a phone call. Real late at night. Like 2:30 in the morning late. And I picked up the phone, and said hello? There were voices yelling in another language. I think it was Portuguese. And there was glass breaking and (I think) a gunshot or two. I said "hello" again, and a voice, really far away, like it was talking through a garden hose, said "Fallen so far. I've fallen...so...far." There were some sobs, and the line went dead.

3. Do you have a current close friend?

Yes.

4. How did you become friends with this person?

Cellmates in Turkish Prison. I say cellmates, but there were about 50 of us in that hole. But the two of us made it through because we both knew the theme song to Golden Girls inside and out.

5. Is there a friend from your past that you wish you were still in contact with? Why?

Plenty.

There was a cryptic message the answering machine one night from a feller I went to high school with, saying that he was in-state. But he never left a return address or phone number. He always had a unique way of looking at things.

There's a friend from college I really miss. After she got engaged, I didn't hear much from her. I haven't heard from her at all in a couple of years. She was one of the first friends I made all on my own up in college (in case you haven't noticed, I'm painfully shy, dammit).

Davey Jones? He never calls. He's got Monkee Business to attend to.

And, of course, I never got to say goodbye to Buddy Ebsen. I've been down all week about it.