YA Outside the Lines

  I remember the day I met you. We were both sixteen. My friends and I were going to visit the newly-renovated St. Louis Science museum, and someone said they invited Paul. I was thinking of another guy named Paul I didn't especially like, so I was happy when a stranger showed up instead. You were on crutches, you'd injured your leg running track. You fell in with the group immediately. I think you could have gotten along with any group of people. You were that kind of guy. You never knew a stranger. You were everyone's pal. In thirty years, I don't think I remember you ever being mad at anyone. You introduced us all to Japanese cartoons. In a decade when very few Americans knew the word 'anime,' you turned us on to all kinds of great movies.  You were my first college roommate. University of Missouri, Columbia. God, we were going to conquer the world. All the women we were going to meet... I remember we went on that double date. You set me up with that girl fro...