Richard was one of the group of good friends I had in high school, along with Steve, Larry, and Porter. He was six-four, had red hair, and was slightly on the ’stout’ side. When he was a senior, his parents divorced. They both moved away, but rather than pull him out during his senior year, they rented a house for him and his sister (who was a few years older) to live in while he finished the rest of the year. The house was out of our high school jurisdiction, so they bought him a car, a white Buick Skylark. We each would pay him $5 a week in gas to drive us to school. Worked out for him, since it covered his gas and we were on the way anyway.
After high school, he moved out to New Mexico to live with his father. I saw him twice after that: after graduating high school, I lived in California for five months with my father. I drove back to Maryland in December 1983, swinging down through New Mexico to pick up Rich, who came back to visit his mom and sister.
I saw him once more after graduating college. I made the pilgrimage from Maryland to California yet again in 1988, this time accompanied by Porter. New Mexico was on the way (we took highway 10), so we got in touch with him and arranged a visit. He was living with a roommate, working in a restaurant after having dropped out of college. He was pretty heavy into the weed scene, even had a big grow closet in his bedroom. He’d lost a ton of weight too, mainly because he traveled everywhere by bike. He told me of plans to move to Colorado where he had some friends, but I never saw or spoke to him after that, so I don’t know if he followed through.
In high school Rich stood out, not only because he was six-four and had red hair, but because he was into the punk scene. He listened to WHFS, which was the punk station of the day, and wore a pair of black and white checkered Vans. Mild by today’s standards, but it was plenty enough to set him apart. This was one of his favorite songs.
Tainted Love, by Soft Cell
What memories does this song make you think of?
