Day 3,706—Summer Stories IX: the St. Louis Drug Kingpin—

Today, I didn’t know which way to go, but I thought it might be nice to visit the horses, so I went towards Grant’s farm. When I got there, I didn’t see the horses, but I was focused on running and thinking about how long the grass was by the horses. There was also a group of bikers on the trail who passed without announcing themselves, which scared me. They were later blocking most of the trail as they were stopped by the road for some reason. I tell myself that bike riders are people too, but I always end up thinking they could be more polite on the roads. 

Yesterday, I decided to look up when my twenty-year-high school reunion would be. I figured it might have already happened, but I saw that it was going to take place at the same park where we had our senior picnic all those years ago. I messaged the one person I know who was in my graduating class to see if they had gone to the 10th year and knew more about it than I did. They were so upset that I suggested going and encouraged me to look on Facebook if I wanted to know what people were doing. 

I told her that I was still not on Facebook and preferred to see people in person when learning something about them. Part of me just wants to take in whatever people want to share, and the online experience doesn’t give you that. I would still engage with people through written communication too, but I don’t like Facebook and Instagram. They come off as so impersonal and, worse, an artifice of a person. I know people can be fake in real life, but I am used to that. 

She told me two guys who were part of our class are now in jail. One, I didn’t remember, but the other guy was in a bunch of my classes and wrestled on the team with me for one year. 

20 years ago, he wasn’t a great wrestler, but he was a good athlete and had some success. I didn’t know him that well, but he was a nice guy, but at the same time, the main thing I remember about him was that I found out he was telling other kids at our school that he was a better wrestler than me. He was the only guy on my team who made this brag. When I heard what he was saying, the next day during live sessions, I grabbed him to be my partner and, without mercy, threw him around the mat. I used to do this pretty ruthless thing, where I would take a guy’s leg while standing, put him in a cradle, and then throw him backward on the mat. When the time was out and he was breathing hard, I asked him, “What’s this? I hear you’re saying that you’re better than me.” He denied ever making that claim, and the beef was squashed. 

To this day I don’t know if he was talking out of his butt, or maybe his friend wanted to see him get taken down a notch. That’s why I liked wrestling. Being better than someone else was never an abstract concept; it was a fact and we’re going to the mat if you need to be reminded of “them facts.” Well, now the guy is in jail and has been sentenced to 15 years. The article I found about him called him a “Drug Kingpin” and said he had been living the high life, making millions of dollars selling drugs, for roughly 10 years. 

The other thing about him that I remember is the model of the Roman Colosseum he made for our Honors World History class we took together Freshman year. It looked impressive, and he had been kind of struggling in the class before that and then he made this Colosseum everyone thought was awesome. Part of me wants to make a documentary about his life now. I am sure if you went to high school with me, you probably know who I am talking about, but there is no point in name-dropping here.