It was his birthday yesterday so I called him on his cell:

him - WHAT IS DIS TING RINGIN IN MY POCKET?!
me - I VAS GOING TO CALL YOU AT 3:33 BUT I FORGOT VHY!
him - VHY ARE YOU YELLING AT ME?!
me - HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!
him - VHAT?!

We went on like that for a while like the two old jews that we are, making ourselves giggle as we always have. I teased him a bit about his Denny's discount but not too much; the way time has been moving lately I'll be as old as him in about a minute. We asked casual questions like how's life and made casual promises to eat together the next time there isn't a large western state between us. Soon he had to go and I had to go too. I hung up, and the whole of our last 38 years came back to me. The shows, the tours, the street theatre, the faires. Ahh, the faires. Cock and Feathers really was a lot of fun. And I guess the good wizard might have had a little something to do with that. Thank you Mr. Barrett.

Happy birthday my friend.