Juana

My ex-coworker friend (she's retired) .... I call her either, "My Juana" or "My ex-Juana" depending on circumstances or mood .... I didn't know her in high school days but her photo is there in the yearbook, sophomore class, but never to appear again in following publications.

Sidenote: How many 68-year-olds still have their high school yearbooks?  

Is it a common thing among senior citizens?

I'm terribly and painfully nostalgic so I'll never do away with mine. 

Anyway, I always tell my friend: "Gosh Juana, you were the 5th or 6th prettiest girl in the class."

And she always replies: "Oh yeah Mike, who was prettier?"

One time many years ago, she couldn't get her car to start.

She asked if I would give her a push so she could pop the clutch.

So I commence pushing .... and I'm pushing and pushing and straining and her car won't move.

And she's yelling at me: "Gosh Mike what's wrong with you? What kind of a man are you?"

And in that moment, I was starting to wonder.

And then: ...... "Ooopppps I forgot to release the brake."

So I eventually get her car rolling and she pops the clutch, and the engine starts and she speeds off leaving me standing there in a cloud of dust. 

Didn't even stop or slow down to say thank you or goodbye.

And these days we laugh about that and other shared comedic experiences in our past. 

She's three or four months older than me and I never let her forget it, always reminding her that she's "so much older."

She's the co-worker mentioned a couple journal entries ago who told another co-worker that we were married and that her husband would pay for the food she ordered. 

Our relationship has always been platonic ..... that doesn't deter me from giving her shit about her choices for romantic interests over the years ..... the "long haired motorcycle dude" and "el chapparo" or "shorty."