Donnie Bradley
Donnie Bradley was one of the greatest buddies anyone could ask for. I met Donnie when I was very young, Rusty Bradley was my closest friend from grade school through high school and I met Donnie through Rusty, they were cousins.
Donnie was handsome, and the gals flocked to him like living birdseed. Yet Donnie never flaunted his unique prowess or paraded his good looks and charm out at Joe’s Tavern; for one, not too many gals entered Joe’s place, and for two, many patrons were happily married like Donnie. Donnie never cheated on his wife either. Donnie just liked coming out at Joe’s and having a good ol' mug of brew.
On those glorious Friday nights, when Donnie walked through that back door, you were in for a treat. He always had a great joke, and he was a master at telling it. Gary Walker seemed to always accompany Donnie; you rarely saw one without the other. They were lifetime buddies. We all loved our Friday nights, we huddled around Joe’s big bar like Jesus’ apostles around Jesus’ Last Supper.
Donnie avoided anything that displayed arrogance or grandeur; he abhorred posing for any cause that benefited the wealthy. Donnie was a simple man, not an impoverished person either.
He was family-oriented and secure. Donnie was loved by all.
Donnie loved to play cards on a Friday night, we all did. Joe Lawrence even played a few hands before the crowd became an ambush. I had a heart flush once, and I raised and raised, and the only one who survived my raises was Donnie, I told him, I swear, I have a heart flush, and I'll show it to you, he had two 5s, & two 4s, and a 4 of clubs, a 4 of diamonds, and a 5 of hearts already on the table, and on the last card down he caught the last 5 in the deck. He smiled and I knew he got it. We laughed for hours.
Donnie seemed to be happy but many who entered the tavern weren't, that's why many patrons drank themselves into the abyss of misery. Donnie lost his son in a terrible car accident, he carried a heavy heart from then on, this eventually wrecked his marriage. He was seen quite often at Joe’s thereafter, Joe always had the cure and that was a mug of forgetfulness, even if it only lasted a few hours. Donnie had a rare disease, that he never brought up, and he died way before his time. He left this world with a broken heart; goddamn life is brutal. I loved Donnie like my own brother.
Looking back, this velagoric moment in time saddens me, watching your beloved friends pass through the final out door without telling them all how much your life improved with them in it.
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