There was a boy in my high school class that looked and acted exactly like the guy on “Happy Days”, The Fonz. Henry Winkler played him on TV, but this kid was the real thing. He always wore a tee shirt and jeans and had a pack of cigarettes rolled up in the sleeve of his tee shirt. He walked around like he was trouble with a capital “T” and if you did anything to cross him, you were in danger of getting beat up.
As you know, I was the valedictorian of my class and probably one of the smarter kids in school. Fonz approached me one day and asked if I would help him with a homework assignment. I was afraid to say no, so I helped him. Well, believe it or not, we became great friends. I guess I was his Richey except not as cool.
One night after some event at school, he offered to take me home. He was one of the few kids in class that owned his own car. But, he said, he had to do something first. I was in no hurry to get back to the farm, so I said sure, I’d ride along. I wondered if we were going to go get beer or something harder. Instead, he drove to the local Barn Theater. They were doing a production of “Finian’s Rainbow” which is a musical. He said they were rehearsing and would I like to watch. We went in and I found out he had one of the leads in the play.
He sang and danced and was really pretty good. I watched from the wings. I was dumbfounded. Here is this kid that is feared by almost every other kid in school singing and dancing. I learned that you never judge someone until you know everything about them and maybe, not even then. It was one of the coolest nights I experienced in high school and something I’ll never forget.
Dad