So get this. Saturday, I go over to the landlords place to pay the rent. George, an eccentric man of 60, invites me in. We talk for a while and end up watching "Gods and Monsters". It was an allright film. It was about an old man trying to die gracefully. George explained that it was the story of his life, except for being queer. The character was queer, not George. Anyway, we had a good time, shooting the shit, and as I left he commented that it's terrible to get old and sick. George was never in the best of health. People who have known him for the last 20 years have never heard him say he felt good. Anyway, I replied: "Yes George, but it happens to all of us." Though I didn't know it yet, those were both his last words and my reply to them. Within hours he had a major heart attack from which he did not recover. Without knowing this, I wrote a review of the movie we watched for Terribly Wrong .com, in which I parralleled the themes of the movie with fictional 'real' events, ending with my killing George and burrying him in the backyard. I thought it was funny and I think George would have too. I wrote it and submitted it before I heard that he died. Some might consider it in poor taste, but I chose not to alter it, save for adding a dedication:
This article is dedicated to George E. Lyons (1943 - 2003), my landlord and friend. "He was a man, taken for all and all. I shall not look upon his like again."
Guess I was right about dying. First argument I ever won with him.
