Me and Ron Two jr. high misfits from the wrong side of the tracks. Happened into the same home room - “T’s” thru “Z’s” lumped alphabetically. We both remember Nancy Urassio. Who is that kid with the thick glasses reading every day from a huge book. - Later talks with Ron convinced me that there really was such a thing as great literature - I remember once asking him, “Why a poem, Ron”. To this day I don’t have the faintest idea what I meant. But for the next 60 years Ron patiently explained. It became part of the mortar that binds friends. Anyway, I observe this kid from Leidy Elementary - now Leidy Elementary means he lives in a poor Jewish neighborhood somewhere around 42nd Street. I lived on 40th in the poor Italian neighborhood. - reading what turns out to be “Les Miserables”, Very thin on the left side and very thick on the right, gradually both side even up and I said, “He’s really going to do it. I gotta talk to this kid”, and that’s when I first introduced myself to Ron. We were just getting by in school, but were brilliant in chemistry - I bet you didn’t know that Ron was the inventor of Zornium, a metal of miraculous qualities with its own molecular structure and valances, while I produced Tuonium, and the great Tuonium - Zornium war was launched in 10th grade chemistry class. We also had Phillies vs. A’s arguments. Ron was a Philadelphia A’s fan and I was a Phillies fan. We’d argue for the length of the baseball season as to which of Philadelphia’s two last place teams was better than the other. Contrary to all appearances, Ron was not born a Red Sox fan. Ron couldn’t get Spanish. He sounded awful speaking it, and never really bothered to learn much vocabulary. Fifty years later we vacationed in Guatemala together. I could report no progress. In college, it was Ron, the center city dweller. The aspiring poet. My admiration for him reached new heights after this conversation while sitting in his apartment. Me - Ron, you have four clocks in your apartment and all four are slightly off, no two times alike??? Ron - Well, I need to know the time. It’s important in my everyday life, but I don’t really want to know the exact time. I don’t want the clock to rule my life. He changed the way in which I let time intrude on my life. To this day, I wear no watch. So time ran out on Ron, but he hasn’t run out of my heart and he planted a nice little garden in my soul that I’ll cultivate until time runs out on me. I’m gonna miss Ron