Forever My Funny Friend

October 31 ,1997

Kristen and I are best friends. Tonight, its Halloween and we stare in the mirror at one another. Giggling like the schoolgirls that we are, we dress as clowns. Twin clowns at that. We have on these frilly white hot pink dresses that have silk overlays. We are wearing white stockings and churchy black dress shoes that we glued hot pink bows on. We have put our hair in pigtails. We painted our faces white and used pink lipstick to make exaggerated smiles. Because of our age, we are allowed to go trick or treating without parent supervision as long as we both promised to be at our respective homes by midnight. We are neighbors too.

There was a party. Holding hands, we went in. It was loud and crowded with high school kids. Dressed in whatever costume they chose. There is a boy. A tall blonde boy with blue eyes and a nice smile. He was Kristen's crush and he new it. He called her over. She turned and looked at me with excitement in her eyes. I smiled and motioned her away. “Go on!”, I yell over the loud music. I let her hand go. Smiling she waded her way through the crowd. She didn’t even look back. “O, well”, I thought. The music filled my body and I started dancing. I lost myself in it, but soon I felt a light touch on my shoulder. It was Kristen. Tears are running down her face messing up her makeup that had been so carefully placed there. We left the party. We walked down to the harbor in silence. I knew what was wrong and didn’t need to ask. Her crush had broken her heart and I didn’t need the details. After all, I was her best friend, the tears were enough. So, we walked down to the harbor of our little town. It had to be close to midnight by now, but I didn’t really know because I left my watch at home. The moon was high in the sky and white sitting off the bay. “Boys Suck!”, Kristen yelled. I hugged her. I started singing our favorite song, “I wanna be loved by you, just you, nobody else but you….” I felt Kristen smile. She stepped back, wiped her face harshly smearing her already melting makeup on her hands. She laughed and proceeded to smear the makeup on my face. We laughed together and she grabbed my hands and started swinging me in a circle with her. We sang that song together belting the lyrics repeatedly until our throats hurt and our legs were wobbly from all the swinging. We went home that night well past curfew.

From that moment, every time one of us had a heartbreak we would wear our best makeup and put dresses on and meet at the harbor in our little town and laugh and sing and yell, “BOYS SUCK!” at the moon.

October 31, 2008, New Brunswick, Canada

When Kristen and I are 24, she is getting married. Being our untraditional selves, she called me to her. I stood next to her and her bride, while they cut the cake. She looked at me lovingly and smiled. She sticks her fingers in the cake and rubs it across her face. She then precedes to rub it across my face. Her Bride laughs at the unexpected gesture. The wedding party looks confused. Someone chuckles off in the distance. It warms my heart and I laugh too. We simultaneously yell, “BOYS SUCK!”. That night we danced and danced and danced under the light of the moon. The DJ played, “I Wanna Be Loved by You”. With Marilyn Monroe leading the way, it was definitely a night to remember.

Kristen passed away the following year, but every Halloween I go to our harbor. I play that song, and with tears streaming down my face. I dance with Kristen.

Forever my funny friend,

We dance,

Tip Toeing around each other to a song only we know,

I LOVE YOU!

Forever my funny friend,

We laugh,

Giggling amongst ourselves to jokes only we know

I SEE YOU!

Forever my funny friend,

We hug,

Swaying amongst ourselves with feelings only we know,

I HEAR YOU!

Forever my funny friend,

We walk,

Gliding in the moonlight,

Sharing secrets only we know,

I TOUCH YOU!

ETERNALLY MY FUNNY FRIEND

We paint our faces,

We dress as clowns,

We dance in the moonlight,

Just us, no frowns,

We laugh and giggle,

We tip toe, we wiggle,

We walk and talk,

We glide, we hug.

Forever my funny friend,

Under the moonlight, we love.