Photograph

Photo: Dick Toftness, 1967

A picture in my high school yearbook.

My drama teacher reading the riot act to the senior class play cast, and we deserved it.

In the background, in the third row, sit three student actors. Karla of the clear mind, the perfect diction, the contagious enthusiasm. Bonnie, the class clown, perkiness personified, sorta my girlfriend. And me. We had been talking about the divorce that Bonnie’s parents were going through. In the picture, even in the fuzzy half-tone image, you can see that Bonnie has been crying. We did shape up as an ensemble and eventually managed to perform the class play, we even had a cast party afterwards. Bonnie and I remain friends in a fashion, and, after a gap of about 35 years, Karla and I renewed our friendship. What a coincidence that the yearbook photographer (thanks, Dick!) managed to accidentally preserve such a meaningful moment in my life. I know that both Bonnie and Karla have lost their yearbooks.

I wonder if this picture would stir as potent a memory in them as it has in me?