Two Friends

Two Friends

By John R. Greenwood 

Ed Covell (L) and Ron Petit (R)

I ran into two friends today that I haven't seen in twenty to thirty years. It was a strange set of circumstances that brought us together. I was at a local fairground picking up my company's fiberglass cow. It is used as a promotional prop and is the size of real cow. As a coworker and I were preparing to load the cow on a trailer a pickup truck pulled up and asked if everything was okay. I replied it was, and thanked the driver for stopping to ask. As I looked closer he seemed familiar. He was also smiling from ear to ear like an elf. It was obvious he had more to say. I then realized it was someone I knew from a couple decades ago. He didn't think I knew who it was but I did, it just took me a minute to digest and calculate his name. His name was Ron Petit and he once drove a milk truck where I worked. I hadn't seen or heard from him since his last day some 20 years ago. It was great to see him. I stood at his driver side window and reminisced for several minutes. He had a passenger who sat patiently waiting. I couldn't really see him clearly. I assumed he was a friend or family member. Ron finally said to me,"You probably know this guy." I leaned down and looked across the cab only to realize it was another friend I hadn't seen in almost 30 years. His name was Ed Covell. We lived in the same town and we were both volunteer fireman. I instantly envisioned a fire call where Ed slipped on an icy driveway while running with the hose. He hit his head knocking him unconscious. Instead of fighting a fire Ed found himself in the back of an ambulance headed for the hospital. All I remember is jumping in the passenger side of the station wagon type ambulance in full firefighting gear. My door wouldn't close and as we raced to the hospital at 70mph I clung onto that door for dear life. In the end Ed was fine. The door latch was fixed. And the trailer we raced to extinguish that night burned to the ground. No one was injured. Memories were made. 

It was a double injection of nostalgia as I stood there leaning on the door of Ron's pickup. It turns out Ron and Ed have been friends for quite sometime now. All three of us shared fifteen minutes of ear to ear smiles and lots of, "Do you remember?"'s I could have stood there for hours. It was like hitting two $50 scratch-offs in one day. I think it was the unexpected thrill of reuniting with an old friend that made it special. To get a double shot out of one Dodge pickup was worth the ride. 

It was a good prelude to my day tomorrow where I plan to visit an aunt I haven't seen in many years. It won't be slap on the back fun, but I am looking forward to a good long hug. I am hoping my mother is there watching over us from above. I will need a little help. It is a long overdue visit. I have some apologizing to do. 

Just in case you didn't believe me.