"Gordon Leeder: Trouble Behind The Curtains"
Maybe I’ve told you about Gordon Leeder before,
but he came into my thoughts today for no apparent reason,
and so I tell it again.
Gordon cracked me up!
He reminded me, in looks and personality, of Tim Conway.
He was always witty
and, looking back,
he seemed abnormally happy.
I sort of envied Gordon.
He and his wife owned The Star Dry Cleaners
on Oliver Street, in North Tonawanda, New York.
I could see his store
from my cheap apartment above the bowling alley across the street.
I didn’t even own a car.
We played poker about once a week
and went to some club meetings together.
Gordon cheered everybody up.
One night Gordon Leeder committed suicide with a shotgun.
Nobody seemed to know why.
I was a pallbearer at his funeral,
and although that was many years ago,
Gordon still pops into my mind once in a while.
Here’s one of the things I’ve learned in my life:
No matter how good things look from the outside,
everyone has trouble going on behind the curtains.
© September 8, 2003 Jack Blanchard. All rights reserved.
