The Hobo Con Queso Friends Series 1.1: WCF and Daffy, The High School Years

From left to right:

Random Girl, Random Girl, Walt "Clyde" Frazier, Daffy.

A few years and a few pounds ago (for both of us).

The following is Part I in a series of the history of my (WCF) friendships.  A while ago I wrote about needing ideas for things to write about, and doing a brief history of my friendships seemed to be a topic that interested a few of our many readers.

First, I will feature a three-part series about my relationship with Daffy, otherwise known as Glaffney, Traffney, etc...  Today's issue is Chapter 1:  The High School Years.

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The High School Years:

It was the fall of 1993.  I was a junior at Teaneck High School.  I was in Spanish II with a relatively young teacher, Ms. Torres.  She had little control of the behavior of some of the clowns in her class.

Among these clowns was a tall, skinny guy who sat in the back of the room.  Every day, he would wait until Ms. Torres started her class and then demonstratively fold his Bergen Record to the crossword section.  He would also crack up the kid who sat next to him by doing things like quietly, in his now-famous deep voice, say things like "1...2....red...penis...Q..." as the teacher would ask us to count, in unison, "Uno... dos... tres..."

As a restless teenager looking for any distraction in class, this guy intrigued me.  Despite never having done crosswords before, I started to bring in my crossword puzzle from the Bergen Record and do them each day as well.  One day, I sat near him in class and started to ask him things like, "Hey, what did you get for 38 across?"  We quickly became friendly.  He told me his name was Matt.

We started chatting and we found out that we both liked to play pick-up basketball.  I said, "Well, at the Jewish Center in Teaneck, there's a pick-up game of basketball that I plan in on most Tuesdays.  A bunch of guys come down and play.  Do you want to come with me?"  He did, and I brought him down to the gym.  In his first game, he made about 8 three-pointers.  We bonded right away.

Shortly thereafter, Matt informed me that his parents were going to Baltimore to see the new Camden  Yards stadium and were staying over.  His parents had permitted him to bring a friend.  Would I like to join him?  Yes, of course I would.  I went with Matt and his parents to Baltimore.  Being a girl-crazy teenager, I remember one incident from this trip more than any other - we went to the jacuzzi that the hotel had, and there were a couple of girls roughly our age in the pool.   We were too insecure to go talk to them - because what else would we do?

Anyway, we started hanging out often.  At lunchtime we would go to my house, as it was only a block and a half from the school, and shooting baskets.  Matt was on the bowling team, and I would go to some of his games.  We cruised around town together.  Joeislav, co-author of the blog, had been friends with Matt when they were younger, and the three of us soon started to pal around together often.   Matt started to meet my brother, Beer-on-the-Girl, and my other friends, and became one of the group.

Daffy enters my bedroom, one month before graduating THS.

The only wrinkle on our friendship in high school came during our senior year.  We each had a cheap car that we tooled around town in.  My car was in the shop and Daffy offered me a ride to my job at a dry cleaners on Cedar Lane, which Google Maps told me was 0.9 miles and a 16 minute walk.  Not too daunting, except that for some inexplicable reason I loved to wear these penny loafers with no socks my senior year, and 0.9 miles each way was a long walk in those swishy shoes.

I met Daffy in our designated place near the school, at which point I could tell there was a problem.  Daffy said, "Umm... my sister is getting a ride with us, and some of her friends wanted a ride as well."  I looked to see a couple of freshman girls approaching the car.  "No problem, I'll crowd in with them.  We'll be there in 5 minutes.  We can pack in for 5 minutes."  "Umm... well, I don't want them to be uncomfortable," came the response.  Incredulous, I proceeded to exit the car and walk to work.

We didn't talk for several days.  Daffy apologized to me, and we moved on with our friendship.  Being two 17-year-old boys, I understood the things guys each other in the name of chasing girls down.  We got over this issue and moved on.

As high school came to a close, Daffy and I remained extremely tight.  We were two underachievers, and as our senior year (and senioritis) came to a close, we spent more and more time together.  Daffy would sometimes cut whatever class he was supposed to be in to come to my gym class and play Ultimate Frisbee, as my gym teacher was his bowling coach.  Throwing Frisbees, it turns out, was one of his numerous, random talents that would impress me over the years.

The summer after we met, I invited Matt to join my family in Cape Cod to our annual week vacation in North Truro, Mass.  Daffy accepted and we enjoyed a week of teenage fun there as well.  Matt was amazing at doing things like skipping rocks on the ocean, building campfires, etc...  Matt quickly became friendly with my father and stepmother, and this Cape Cod tradition would continue for many summers to come.  Additionally, a positive relationship continued to be built between Daffy and my family.

As high school came to a close, we realized that we were both attending local colleges in the fall and planned on being around often in the summer following high school, and the years to come.  We would be thus be able to continue to play basketball at the park, go to local diners and fast food joints, chase girls, and just generally goof around together even after high school.

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To be continued in 1.2:  Chapter 2, The Late 90s: The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same