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'The Blade'

By Casey Flynn

Artie Morris stood over the barbecue pit on his back porch, overlooking the ninth hole of the country club that he and his wife belonged to. He flipped the steaks and adjusted the burner to a lower temperature.

'Okay, almost done, let me get you guys some more beers.' He pulled out labeled bottles of German beer for himself and his two friends, and the three twisted them open and began to drink.

'You know, I invited him,' Artie Morris said, and then waited for a reaction.
Brit Vale appeared taken aback, 'Here?'
'Uh-huh.'
'This afternoon?'
'Yeah.'
Brit looked over to Ed Crawford to gauge his reaction.
When Ed Crawford began medical school, he thought he had seen their old high school friend, Matthew Drew on the way to class one day, but he wasn't sure because his hair was long, stringy and wild, and most of his face was covered in an unkempt beard. He appeared to be living on the streets and had a sign where he offered to write people poetry in exchange for money or karma. He believed that Matthew appeared to be on the verge of recognizing him, but he had conveniently looked away and hurried to his next class. Whenever he remembered this incident, he felt definite pangs of guilt.

Nevertheless his feelings about their mutual friend were even more complicated than this lingering sense of guilt would indicate. They had been both regarded as the two best academic students in high school. Ed considered that there probably wasn't a rivalry, but Ed realized, no doubt because of his competitive nature, that he always wanted to beat Matthew and perhaps that he was more talented than Matthew.

While Matthew was accepted into Harvard and other prestigious schools, Ed was rejected from most of these same schools for reasons that were totally inexplicable to him. Most disappointing of all, Ed had to go to the in-state university because of financial considerations, stemming from his parent's divorce. This had always been a sore point, not just regarding Matthew, but generally speaking. No doubt because of these conflicting emotions, he merely responded, 'I mean, it could be awkward.'

'Awkward,' Brit exclaimed, 'I heard he dropped out of Harvard because of a serious drug problem. Who was it? Oh Anthony, at our last reunion said he dropped so much acid that he went out of his mind --'

'--I knew that he was into drugs, you know from high school,' Ed said, 'and I heard that in college, it had gotten pretty out of hand --'

'--You know what else I heard,' Brit continued, 'and at the time it sounded pretty crazy, and maybe I was a little drunk at the reunion when I heard it, but I heard that he was having difficulty supporting his drug habit, because you know his parents didn't have any money, well so he went to Chicago, and worked, and again I know this will sound crazy, but swear to God I heard this as a guy who ran prostitutes through some Internet site, he was, you know, an actual pimp, and went by the name of, get this, 'The Blade'.

Ed expressed doubt at the veracity of the story by bursting out in laughter and then replying, 'That sounds totally made up, and besides Anthony doesn't get anything right.'
'I never said that I heard it from Anthony.'
Artie appeared simply confused.
'Matthew, a pimp? He's not even black.'
'Artie, all pimps aren't black,' Brit said, trying his hand at sensitivity training.
Artie replied humorously, 'I know, but it probably helps a little bit with the networking and moving up the ranks.'
'It sounds made up,' Ed replied.
'Well, I heard something different,' Artie said, 'I heard he dropped out of Harvard his junior year and went to the South Pacific, to get away from it and just practice meditation or something. I heard that from quite a few people at the reunion.'
Brit returned everyone to the subject at hand, 'But why did you invite him?'
'Well, Ed hardly ever comes back in town, and I was inviting you guys over, and out of the blue I got an e-mail from Matthew asking how I was doing. It turns out that he had moved back in town, and well I had already invited you guys over, and why not, I thought, it would be like the four of us back in high school again, and I dunno --'

'Listen Matthew was my friend,' Brit said with evident disgust, 'but the guy had everything going for him, the only one of us to get into Harvard - a scholarship paid for most of it, and to blow it all, for what?'
'No, it will be good,' Ed said, and then took a drink of his beer. 'I'm glad that you invited him.'
'Speaking of good,' Brit said, glad to change the subject, ' I saw your new Jaguar out there. Artie that is one fine vehicle.'
Ed's interest was piqued.
'Did you get the new XKR Coupe.'
'The one and only,' Artie said, knocking a leaf off his khaki pants. 'It has 390 horsepower with this amazing supercharged acceleration, and what a smooth ride.'
'I'd like to test ride it later.'
'Sure, Ed, what are you driving?'
'Ahhh, it's a BM&W, a newer model, and it's sufficient, but I am looking to buy a new car.
'What about you, Brit?'

'A Mercedes - it's the new -'
At that moment, Brit Vale's wife, Lucy, stood at the threshold of the porch and said, 'Is the food ready, or can we do the pictures now?'

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