Chronicles, "Welcome To My Knightmare, Duck"

Knightmare Duck (KD) is one of my oldest friends. I have known people longer than him, but I have lost contact with them over the years. I guess he and I have known each other for about 30 years or so. We were next door neighbors for several years before I eventually moved to NC with my HSS. He and I have a lot of history as friends. We have been through some very interesting times before, during, and after "The BSOB Years". We competed with each other (intentional or not) in video games, sports, girls, chess, and cars...but not to the point of being obnoxious about it. Come on, we are guys.

I think KD was visiting his grandmother Marie (she lived across the street from me) the day I met him. He had some pretty interesting toys (like the guns of Navarone play set on the left) and we soon started playing war and Matchbox cars together on a regular basis. He eventually moved into our neighborhood and hanging out with him became common place. KD was always having people over to his house playing video games or watching HBO. He was the only one in the group that had a premium movie channel.

When we were younger, KD joined me and the rest of the kids that lived nearby in games of wiffle ball, kick ball, and football as well as none sport games like tag and hide and go seek (which we only played at night). He was a good competitor. Like me (and unlike most of the other kids), he did not have a lot of money so we had to improvise on things when we were younger. I clearly remember using sticks for guns (as well as swords, spears, bats, etc) and and squeeze bottles for squirt guns.

Going over to KD's house was never a predictable event. We could start off playing video games on his Atari 2600 or watching a movie on HBO and end up in a baby powder fight (powered by hair dryers...you had to see it to believe it) or water balloon fight. One thing was for certain...if you came over to KD's house, you were going to have fun. He had a pinball machine and a pool table (neither which were top of the line or new, but they were fun and full sized. KD's dad was always getting a great deal on used toys). Having those things in his possession meant that KD was the guy to beat...and he proved difficult to unseat most of the time. He was a natural competitor and hated to lose.

Out of all the group, KD probably was the biggest risk taker. He was a natural brawler and liked to mix it up whenever the opportunity presented itself. While he and I used to wrestle (and I was victorious some of the time but not very often), I avoided fights with him at all costs. He hit like a Mack truck and could take a lot of punishment. I do not think I ever saw him back down from a fight, no matter what the odds were (in retrospect, that is kinda scary considering the things we did). He would even keep others from jumping in when one of us was in a fight. While he had a bit of a short fuse, he had (and still does) honor. No sucker punches, no ganging up on someone. Just a "mano a mano" fight. In that way, I respected him because he had a degree of bravado and confidence that I never had. While hanging out with him was aways a risk, it was never boring. Even when we were pulled over by the police ("Do you know who my dad is?" ) he exuded confidence. I can safely say that most of the groups memorable moments occurred either because of or in the presence of KD. Never a dull moment...and if there was, he made sure it was short lived...usually at Carp's expense.

One of the more ironic things about our friendship is that while he was into technology before I was (and more heavily), I was the one who made it more of a career. KD was the first kid in the area to get a game console (Odyssey system, I believe) and a personal computer (Vic-20). His interest in tech spilled over to me and eventually I had an Atari 2600 and a Commodore 64. Of course by then, KD had upgrade beyond that. Oh how we loved our tech toys!

In our middle teen years, KD became heavily into playing "fujiball" (Baseball with a tennis ball) basketball with some of the guys from LA (Lower Adamston). He probably played every day of the week in the summer at a local church parking lot. I joined them every now and than, but I was not really part of that crowd. I was looking for a different scene and found it with Holmes and Charlie and the rest of the "Chunki's Junkies" After a few weeks of integrating myself with the new crowd KD and Carp joined in and thus began "The BSOB Years".

KD is kind of a big guy. Most big men usually have no trouble drinking at least their share of alcohol and KD was no exception. The year he attended DeVry University in Columbus, Ohio he learned a lot about alcohol from his dorm mates. After a couple of semesters, he came back a seasoned beer warrior that could out drink everyone...and he was not afraid to prove it. When we drank as as group, we rarely if ever went to clubs. We preferred to drink at the train yard or some other out of the way place (Snake Hollow...). We did however drink at his house on more than one occasion. I seem to remember episodes involving a pint of JD, lots of cheap wine, and 2 liter bottles of cheap wine cooler. My stomach is churning just thinking about it.

After the BSOB years we all began to go our separate ways. KD and Carp became very close and hung out together all the time. As a matter of fact, I think one of KD's girlfriends was introduced to him by Carp. Eventually (IIRC) KD and his girlfriend ended up living together in his parents old house and used Carp to help them remodel. I remember that time because either he or his girlfriend had a Renault...the first I had ever been in. I hung out with KD and his GF (for the life of me I cannot remember her name...but I bet I will at 3 AM...that is when I normally remember odd facts I have forgotten) a few times, but being married and having a kid on the way was not conducive to acting like a kid, so I had to dial it back a notch.

After I moved to NC, I lost track of KD for a couple of years but ran into him outside the county jail (I was at the courthouse filing legal documents and he was on a break) and we sat in his cruiser (he was a county deputy) in the A/C and talked. We caught up on things and made a promise to keep in touch...one that we failed to keep for some time. Oh, we went out once and while when I was in town, but that was about it. We got bit better once I moved to Texas.

I keep in touch with KD as much as I can via e-mail and IM's. I usually get to see him once a year or so when I go back home to visit. He has changed quite a bit...he has settled down and pretty mellow. He has a good wife and a good job (I know he gets shot at for a living but at least he is happy) and looks back at the "bad old days" as not so bad. I got brave and asked him some personal questions about the times we fought as kids and he floored me with his response: "I can' tell you why." I did not take this as a refusal to tell me, I toke it as, "we were kids and kids fight for no reason 95% of the time." Yep, he has changed. There was time he would have said, "We fought because you were an a$$hole." and he may have been partly correct. I guess Holmes was right when he said that it was "just water under the bridge".

I admire that.