[title type="h5"]Tuesday, February 24, 2015.
Dinner At Café B With Old Classmate.[/title]
When Danny Hynes occupied the desk to my immediate right--which he did for three years at Jesuit High School, until I was forced to vacate my seat--my name was Tommy. I became Tom in my third year of college, by which time I had determined that my life goal was to become a network radio newsreader. "Tom Fitzmorris" sounded more appropriate for that. "Tommy Fitzmorris" sounded like a guy you'd go fishing with. And I don't even like fishing.
Danny is Dan to a lot of people, but apparently still Danny to his friends. He emailed me for ideas about where he could arrange a lunch for a group. Then he emailed again to say that the idea worked out perfectly, and that now he felt he owed me a lunch. Over the past few months, we set this up and cancelled it a half-dozen times before we got it together this evening.
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Crab beignets at Cafe B.[/caption]
I think this is only the third time Danny and I have met in the forty-seven intervening years. Until the end of junior year, we were better friends than I was with most other classmates. He and I shared a common quality in our schoolwork. We were both in the honors classes, but neither one of us was destined to become the 1968 valedictorian. I was much farther back in that line than he was. After all, he ended up becoming an attorney. I still have not made it to network radio news announcer.
Like many other Blue Jays of our vintage--perhaps a majority--Danny has grandchildren. Hearing that always startles me a moment, the way that Rex, King of Carnival surprises me during the past decade by being younger than I am. We compare notes about the progeny, which is, as always, the longest story in a conversation between friends. In second place is Manresa. Both of us have adjourned to that heavenly clime for many years.
It is also typical that food takes over the conversation at some point. I was allowed to choose the venue: Café B, which is always better than I expect. Today we start with crabmeat beignets and baked oysters with a Crystal hot sauce, Parmesan cheese and bacon topping. Both of these are good enough that we're tempted to get another round. We're both trying to lose weight, though.
He gets fish with crabmeat and pronounces it excellent. (I wonder how many times a year someone sitting at the same table with me has that combination. And how many of those can be credited to Mary Ann. For me, scallops with coriander, citrus and chili peppers made into a gastrique. (That's a much-reduced sauce that's never served in portions larger than a squirt.
Danny accidentally knocks over a glass of water into my lap. Great! He thereby gives me another point to make in re the disappearance of tablecloths from restaurants. If our table had a tablecloth, it would have collected the spillage and left me much less damp.
We finish by bringing up the matters that old men always do. Can it really be three more years until our fiftieth-year reunion? Isn't it amazing how few of our classmates have died recently? And can you believe how many of those guys are well past retirement already?
We shake hands, and Danny says, "You come across as a warm person." I am almost positive that he's the first who ever said that to me.
[title type="h5"]Café B. Old Metairie: 2700 Metairie Road. 504-934-4700.[/title]
