Requiem

         I folded the letter and put it back in the envelope.  Matt asked. “Bad news?”

         “Yes.  Melvin’s dead.”

         “Who’s Melvin?”

         “Guy I knew in high school.”

         “That you never told me about?”

         “I’m telling you now.  He was a dumb jock and they told me to tutor him so he could stay eligible.”

         “And did you?”

         “I tried to tutor him.  He had a brain the size of a ping pong ball, but he was a great basketball player and they needed him to win games and get to the playoffs, so as far as the school was concerned, he was eligible whether he was or not.”

         “So what happened to him after graduation?”

         “He didn’t graduate.  He got a job at the stone quarry and that’s the last I knew about him.”

         “But somebody notified you he’s dead.”

         “Yeah.  Maybe she thought I’d care.  I ought to care.”

         “Who’s the letter from?”

         “His aunt, she raised him.  The school pumped his head full of the idea that he’d be in the NBA and make ten million a year.  Then they dropped him like a hot rock when he was out of school.  They used him!“

         “Stinks.”

         “Yes it does.  The guy is cut loose to find what job he could even though he couldn’t read.”

         “How can a guy get all the way through high school without knowing how to read?”

         “He knew how to play basketball and get the school into the playoffs.”

         “And now he’s dead.”

         “Yeah.”

         “How old was he?”

         “Something like thirty-six.”

         “What killed him?”

         “He couldn’t read the sign that said BLAST AREA.”

         “Bummer.”

         “Yeah.”

         271 words