John

When we were photographers I met John. He wanted to be a Medical Doctor.

He had no money, but had a good head, and he worked hard. He married while in college. His wife was as sweet. They were both wonderfully uncorrupted country kids.

Once in a while when he was in medical school they and their expanding family would travel through out town to see parents and stay overnight. We enjoyed their company.

The years went by.

Rumor was that he and his wife divorced, one of those nasty divorces.

Then he called me one day and asked if I would come up to a small town in central Washington State to photograph his wedding. He was marrying a small town socialite.

The wedding was one of those happy/sad events. His children were there, not sure they should be sad or happy. His sister was there. I visited with her a while. She suggested that my friend had not been a good husband to his first wife. That made me sad.

His new wife was a bubbly intelligent woman. In many ways she outclassed John by miles. He was a simple man who worked hard and got through medical school. His social skills were not as developed as his medical ones.

At the end of the service, I gave him the film (as was my system then) and wished him a good life. I never saw him again.

But he called one night.

“Dave, I want to lay carpet in my new house. I want to do it myself. What tools will I need.”

I told him where to go to buy the tools and gave him a list of things to buy. Those tools cost more than a good carpet installer would have charged, but John wanted to do it himself.

A few days later he called to ask me how to use those tools. So I gave him a one hour course in laying carpet.

I have not heard from him since and that was a LONG time ago. I always wondered about the carpet job as well as to the whereabouts of a set of very nice carpet tools that, most likely, were used just once.

And John, I hope you had lots of happiness.