A Mere Acquaintance

We were locked in total friendship.  No declarations had to be made; we just fell into it as easy as you'd fall into stride with someone walking down the street.
-James Kirkwood,Good Times, Bad Times, a novel                                                                                                
Twenty five years ago today:
October 5, 1985
Saturday

Today was Helen’s baby shower. So, I went to MERVYN’s and bought about twelve dollars worth of stuff. It’s amazing how much baby stuff you can get for that small amount.

I enjoyed my Saturday with a bike ride. It was a nice ride, too. I bumped into Will (of Pac Bell Major Accounts). I also had a head-on collision with my bike—but I survived. The bigger problem was that it blew all the air out of my front tire. It also caused the wheel to get out of alignment. I sadly walked my bike home, hoping my bike wasn’t in serious trouble.

I went to mom’s house for some freshly made punch during the baby shower (which was in-progress). I saw a lot of family: My Aunt Lela Gallegos-Armijo, first cousin Mona Armijo, Aunt Lillian Lucero-West, first cousin Donna Armijo, Aunt Nellie Vigil, sister-in-law Helen Wong-Armijo, Sherri Lewis-Armijo, my brother John Armijo, my first cousin Joey Armijo’s kids’ Jessica and Little Joey Armijo, Barbara Reynolds, my Dad’s nephew Lawrence Vigil and his wife Dolores Vigil, etc. It was fun. I ate a bit but I got full from drinking the (sugar water) punch.

I remained for the baby shower festivities until 8pm (when it was ALL over).

A little after eight o’clock I got ready to drive out to the 50’s Club in San Francisco. I arrived in a timely manner but ended up arriving before anyone else. My co-workers Karyn Kossoff, Michelle Falls, Patty Reid made their appearances next. Then Ron Shelly and Elizabeth Center arrived.   Elizabeth had a new beau named Steve.   Bob Gross showed up, too.

Karyn and I seemed to reignite our friendship tonight.
I liked when Karyn said, “Dale’s an ASS.”
I later found myself outside with Ron Shelly who said, “I’ve meant to call you...but Dale was spreading all sorts of shit.”
“How did you know?”
“I was surprised one day when Bob Gross came out with it ‘out of the blue’. He said that Dale had read your diary and knew that we had done something.”
“That’s so absurd.”
I felt stupid to say the least. The good thing is that Ron and I are now friends. Things may get better. Ron would like to go and see a movie with me sometime.

All of this told me that this is the last straw for Dale! There have been so many last straws! This reminds me so much of Anthony Battu from junior high-school. If I could do it once I could do it again. Anthony was my best-buddy in junior-high and throughout most of high-school I ignored him because of his meddlesome ways. Dale will be old news. He will only be a mere acquaintance as far as I’m concerned.    
The feeling of busy-ness was highly satisfying.  I hardly thought about myself.
-Yann Martel, 
"The Life of Pi"