The Lexicographer's Rules

"Ten years ago today, my friend JerryÑa true smartass and one of St. Louis' greatest fabulists, then or sinceÑdied after living with AIDS for nearly a decade. The day before, I sat at his bedside and held his frail hand and asked him what I should say at his memorial service. He had specifically asked me to give the eulogy and, knowing his temperament in this life, I thought it best to consult him, lest he be unsatisifed and haunt me in the next one. 'A bitchy kaftan-clad ghost is the last thing I need following me around,' I told him. He laughed at this and there followed a long period of hacking and wheezing. His lungs had been filling up with fluid faster than they could be drained. Jerry was a skinny-dipping hippie from way back, an expert and elegant swimmer. The irony that he would be drowning now, at the end, was a source of some amusement to him."

—Bradlands. Brad's friend Jerry died of AIDS June 27, 1991.'

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