while Mom was busy praising me for bothering to visit Danny Anderson in the hospital. Some idiot with ten DUI's to his name had T-boned a car with Danny and his parents inside on the break between my sophomore and junior years of college. His parents were killed and Danny was paralyzed. The drunk was wealthy, well-insured and out for a drunken joyride in a company car. The settlement had been huge. That wasn't much when you're paralyzed and an orphan, but it's better than nothing. Technically, Danny was a parapalegic, but his arms had been so badly broken and mangled in the crash, that even though the spinal damage hadn't paralyzed them, he still had limited arm mobility and required a live-in aide. Danny and I had been friends in high school. (We played Dungeons and Dragons together) and I'd kept up the friendship. He'd been an exceptional customer to the store and sometimes I'd accompany him to conventions and events. He'd always pay my airfare. I'd been avoiding him for the last few months. I was totally caught up in my new girlfriend and I didn't want him asking to go to Vegas with me. I would have not been able to say no and I really wanted to spend time with Maricel. I sucked. I explained to Maricel that I was the scum of the earth. She disagreed, but did say it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to get in touch. I called his house and got a machine. Now I had a reprieve to work on an excuse for being scum.
See you in the funny papers....
Simon
