The Later Journeys - 22. Gerry Comes Bearing Gifts
Previous chapter Friday. We ate a light breakfast and lunch because Gerry had warned us that an Italian feast would be arriving with him shortly after sunset. I wondered: With New Jersey traffic being what it was, especially on Friday afternoons, he might be delayed. Nonetheless, we made sure that we and the house were ready to greet him. Gerry had asked us so many questions about Ben, it was even more amusing when Ben started quizzing us about Gerry! Ben seemed to have established a mental picture of our friend, mostly based on his name and age. He considered 40 to be a “mature” age -- this was hilarious to us. Gerry was inordinately fond of fart jokes and paintball weekends. Out of respect, we declined to tell Ben anything about Gerry’s stretch in Federal prison, even though it hadn’t been a long one and the process that he hoped would lead to the conviction being overturned was underway. Gerry is fundamentally honest and decent, albeit naive and gullible. He comes from the...