Halloween night and I ran into an old school mate. A long time ago I went to a school for one semester 50 miles south of Pittsburgh. And I befriended a guy through friends of friends who was studying so that he could go to optometry school. He went through all the identity problems that most 20 year old college students go through. I remember him at one point in the semester threatening to drop out of school and join an apprenticeship program for plumbing. Then I think he came to his senses and realized that staying in school was easier than getting a real job. I remember a skinny blond wench that he was fond of came to the conclusion that I had an inferiority complex after taking one course in psychology. I remember being so enlightened by her observation about me that I did smile and was delighted by her opinion of me. Hey maybe standing next to the mountains and the river that surrounded the school, maybe I did feel inferior. Anyhow I had not seen either of these people in twenty years. And here it was Halloween night and I am buying a few things at the grocery store. And the man who was not sure if he wanted to be an optometrist or a plumber is walking towards me. And all the nonverbal things that people do to act like we do not recognize ghosts from the past, give us away. When he realized I knew him he looked like hunted prey. We did our best to avoid each other at the check-out line. It was late and I was tired but your past sometimes catches up to you. I remember him telling me that he came from a town in Pennsylvania that had a state penitentiary. At least he got the hell out of that town. But here he was in a grocery store in Pittsburgh on Halloween night dressed up like a doctor like he had just come from a costume party. He reminded me of the doctor in Anton Chekov’s story “House with a Mansard”. Crazy things always happen to me on Halloween. Even when I just go to the grocery store late at night after work on Halloween night. My old friend was taking a long look at me in the parking lot, because I was doing my best to act like I did not know him. What is there to say after twenty years? He looked lost. I was tired. What would Che Gueverra do in this situation? Hey maybe one day freedom will ring when all the work is done.