childhood friends

i counted nine

spins

on the red leather stool

at the drugstore

counter,

lifting my Keds

while sipping on a cherry

coke,

and eating a slice

of apple pie,

but i was thin,

bone thin,

whereas as my friend

Willy,

who was heavier than me

managed

fifteen spins.

(although i was faster than him

in a foot race.)

i don't know why i remember

these things.

i wonder

if he does.

in a strange way, after

sixty years,

i kind of miss him.