Roger the Koger

I talked to Roger the Koger tonight.. he always has encouraging words. for any of you that have no clue whom I'm speaking of, he's a good friend of mine, a mentor, an advisor, that i met in jail. He's extremely intimidating, yet insightful and full of love. His lower arms showcase the amount of time that he's spent in the prison systems of california and texas... in his eyes, the two greatest states... His huge collection of Hells Angels Memorabilia represents the amount of respect and trust that other outlaw bikers place in him, and his stories will live forever in me, as they never failed to offer an escape from reality, while living in a place designed to force you into it... of my favorites are the ones about "fire camp"... while in a california prison he was selected to go live in a mountain-side campsite and fight forest fires with only axes and shovels.... he later got out of prison and became a fireman, and then several years later dropped everything and moved to texas for a girl he met.. that's just the tip of the iceberg.....

We lived in a tank with 68 other felons, and he is the only one I have managed to keep in touch with.

anyhow, on with the story. He called me while I was driving home from class earlier. It seems he's always drunk when we speak... so he repeats himself a lot.. i don't mind. This time he kept telling me, "You're a youngster, and you got a good head on your shoulders.. you're gonna make it. you're goin places I've never seen." I would usually inject something to the effect that i agree... (we were speaking of my taking night classes, and that I was thinking of going into engineering)

then he would say, "You're gonna make it... if you ever think you can't.. you just call me.. I'll come down there... I'll come down there with a couple home boys,,, and talk to your professors... we'll make sure your grades improve.. I promise"..

"I can do that you know,,, I can... and I would"...

and I would say that I knew he would... and he would.. not that i think it would work.. but he would do it....

then he would go on about, "Ryan, you're a brother.. I'd stand back to back with you and fight off any enemy, any day.."... I'm sure he would.. but he knows I'm not a fighter... maybe that's why he says it.

then he would talk about how, "We're gonna ride again!! you'll get another bike.. if not,, I'll find you one.. you just come down here this summer and we'll ride!!"

actually, he picked out my last bike.. he found it, and took me to look at it. There was another bike next to that one that I was looking at,, but he told me, "that bike's nice,, but you'll get more tail with this one." he was right.. that's how much i trust his judgement.

anyway,, there wasn't any real point to this blog.. just that I talked to an old friend.... and even though a lot of what comes out of his mouth is drunken babble, or outdated prison slang, or california dreamers talk, there is always a deeper message.. if you listen for it..

tonight's message: no matter how different I am now from when we met, or how detached I have become from them, a friend is a friend, and sometimes a friend is all you need.

I wonder if talking to Roger is as benificial for him as it is for me?????