Yesterday night at the Fish Market with BradFORD and my sister, I recognized a guy from my high school. He was working as a bus boy and I was shocked to find someone I recognized somewhere almost 600 miles away. Even worse to run across someone from the horrid times four years ago.

As I stared at him, I remembered his first name. Colin. Then about 5 minutes later, I remembered his last name. Brown. I remembered that he was part of the druggie group. The major outcast group who didn\’t really care whether they fit with high school or not. I was part of the \”highly academic\” outsider group. I never talked to him in high school. And him the same to me. What if it wasn\’t him. He looked exactly how he looked like 4 years ago. Yet, the curiousity was getting the best of me. Was he one of those people who moved to San Diego in hopes of a new life? With no specific direction, but to get out of Lafayette? Did he arrive there and have his dreams shatter? Then he realized he had to work. And so begins his life as a busboy at Fish Market?

I felt idiotic there. I exclaimed my shock to my sister and Brad. Or maybe it was just the feeling of the unknown. Most likely, he wouldn\’t recognize me. Wouldn\’t know my name. Wouldn\’t really want to get to \”re-connect\”. I didn\’t know how to approach it. Someone came up with the idea that Brad would be \”named\” Colin. And that we would shout the name Colin really loudly as if we were trying to get Brad\’s attention. Eventually, as Colin was setting the table next to ours (and I staring so defiantly…), my sister spontaneously asked Brad, \”Hey COLIN what do you think of my creme brulee?\”

Colin immediately whipped his head around and noticed me. (Brad didn\’t answer my sister, by the way. He seemed too amused by the incident.) \”Hey,\” Colin said over the din of the restaurant. \”You go to school down here?\”

I shook my head and said, \”Berkeley.\”

He then said, \”Ok, talk to you later.\”

He walked back to the busboy\’s area and avoided our section for the rest of our meal (or so it seemed?) We didn\’t talk again.