For some reason, the Williams' family didn't like me. With the exception of Clarke, one of my best friends in high school, and possibly his dad. The Williams women didn't like me.
When Clarke's parents went out of town once, they left a list of responsibilities for Clarke. It read:
- Walk Cocoa
- Feed Cocoa
- Don't ride in Michael Kane's car
If anyone was a bad influence on anyone, it was Clarke on me. I certainly didn't mind, but if you're interested in how a parent might view the situation, that's how it was.
But Mrs. Williams didn't think that way. She always seemed to think Clarke was getting into trouble because of me, even as he told her to get out of the kitchen because he couldn't eat his manwich while looking at her. She went.
I ran into the whole family at Foxfield, the biannual horse races in Charlottesville. UVA kids go all the time, and I guess Clarke was visiting from JMU. Lindsay went to UVA, too, but she was a few years younger. I'm not sure what his older sister Paige was doing there.
It was unspoken and clear that they didn't like me, and that's why it was so funny when Clarke suggested we get a picture together.
"We should make this our Christmas card!" he said.