The gentleman in the
lower-left corner is my grandson. I
would like to say a few words about the other gentleman.
The focus is soft because
I rushed the shot. He had ridden from
right to left a minute earlier – it wasn’t clear to me why he turned about to
run past us again. Now I see that he was
finishing a hand salute (with his throttle hand) as he passed – and his motives
are more evident in the photo than they were at the time.
Then, a few minutes after
the picture above was taken, he slowly pulled into the funeral home parking
lot. Ro went over to learn if he were a
mourner or a PGRider. In the latter
case, she would have him move his bike to the high school parking lot a
half-block away.
After a few minutes they
hugged. Then they talked some more. Then they hugged again. Then he got on his bike and rode away.
Ro came back to the seven
of us holding flags. She told us some of
the things he had told her – that his father hit
If we had known all that
beforehand, Ro would have been the perfect choice. If the choice were deliberate, it was Devine.
And Ro made another good
call. Kevin was holding a flagpole three
times his height when the family arrived, and that was good for both the family
and for Kevin. But then she told him to
manage the coolers and the granola bars located behind the building. He was to offer them and to keep the area
policed. In exchange he could help
himself.
We had talked earlier about
chicken nuggets (McDonald’s) but on the way home he didn’t want to stop.
Thursday visitation*
pictures
Friday funeral
*We left after just a
couple hours so that Kevin could be home when his mommy got home from
work. So it was five o’clock when we
were northbound on I-294 in