Ode to Ron
written by: Ingrid Bruck
@bruck_ingrid
Pull up a chair, let me tell you about my friend, Ron,
a numbers man from the Jersey City projects.
Father – a reputed mafia who bolted (he hopes).
Favorite uncle – numbers runner, gave him a weekly allowance.
Childhood friend – ‘Lead-Head’ Ed, who, age 12
survived a head shot with a lead pipe but never flinched.
Ron & Lead-Head enlist together,
escape from high school to fight in Nam.
Ron becomes a code breaker,
Lead-Head ships to the front.
They come back from war with no place to go.
Ron sleeps in a phone booth.
Lead-Head Ed motorcycles into dope.
Ron takes college classes on the GI Bill.
Studies in the library. Pays his bills.
His life adds on a wife and two kids.
Numbers run in his family.
He learns accounting, graduates with honors.
Reinvents himself, changes his last name.
Works with singleminded determination.
College paves the way to his first job – City Auditor.
From there, he climbs the finance ladder to City Director.
His motto: Hard work, enforce rules, count every cent!
“Sumo wrestler pushes unruly dollars into straight lines.”
Even as a widower, his routine on the way home invariant:
Take out from Richard’s, steak & potatoes every night.
Ron never stops looking for Ed.
Rumor says his friend is dead.
After the paperwork trail goes dead,
he sends his invitations out to the universe:
Hey Lead-Head, how about poker, Friday night at Joe’s. R?
No answer – his buddy’s MIA.
Silence tastes like a bowl of cornflakes,
but the poured milk is sour.
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR:
I’ve been remembering stories Ron told me about his life growing up in the Jersey City projects, his Nam war experiences and how he became city finance director. Writing about Ron for me is a way to honor his memory.
- Ode to Ron - November 21, 2024
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