My Music: ABOUT JOHN

John and Sue, Kansas City 1972

In August, 1976 I went back to Kansas City for the first time since 1972. The main reason was to attend the World Science Fiction Convention there and to see one of my favorite authors, the guest of honor, Robert Heinlein. I accomplished that, and it was wonderful, but I also wanted to spend time with friends I’d made in KC. There was my high school friend Mike and his wife Jane, and three people I’d met while renting a room at an old farmhouse: John, Sue, and Marsha. Marsha was the one who kept in touch by letters, and I stayed with her. She had been keeping me up on what all three of them were doing, and her reports about John were not good. John was getting into bad habits, and seemed to be making his living dealing drugs, something that he didn’t do when I knew him before. We spent some time together, and I enjoyed it, but was filled with unease over the direction he had taken. I wrote this song then: About John.

I don’t think I played it for him, I might not have written it until I got home. I’m not sure what the point of the song is, really, but I knew he was headed in a direction I didn’t like. It was his life, of course. He and Sue had split, and she was married to someone else. Marsha seemed about the same, and had a boyfriend, and we all enjoyed seeing each other. John got teary when I left.

I heard from John one more time in 1989, not long before I married Ellen. He called from Boston, where he was then living, and refused to say his name or give any details, as if worried the phone call might be tapped. When he heard about my upcoming wedding, he wished me well, and then abruptly hung up. I don’t know what happened to him after that. Sometimes I think it’s better not to know.

About John is © Todd Klein, all rights reserved.

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