When we were still living on Morningstar Lane, and I was attending Cabell Elementary, and Sue Ann McLauchlan was my best friend, at some point in some year, Sue gave me a set of pins.
Two purple mice with crystal eyes and gold toned tails.
Sue moved away first, then my family & I moved from Dallas to El Paso.
But I always kept those mice with me.
Most people who know me well understand that, at heart, I am a bit shy. Others find the concept out of sync with the Jaki Jean they know.
But, in high school, I was shy & eager to meet new & interesting people. And a bit demented.
So I retrieved one of those mice, pinned it to the inner lapel of my orange corduroy coat, & started introducing Douglas.
Whenever there was someone I thought I wanted to know, I would approach them & say:
Excuse me, my friend Douglas would like to meet you. He is a bit shy.
Then they would ask to meet Douglas & I would open my coat & say This is Douglas.
Douglas took me a long way at Coronado High School. I met a lot of people. It was the late sixties & early seventies & sometimes people sought me out to meet Douglas.
When one of his eyes fell out & his tail broke, we had a funeral & buried Douglas in one of the beds in the patio, somewhere outside the English department.
And when my father was transferred to Houston & we had to leave, my friends & I dug up Douglas.
He is with me still.
As is Sue Ann McLauchlan Faulkner.
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