Beltway Boys, the Move

A friend of mine from the Dallas days called upon us to help him move from an apartment in northern Bethesda to Roslyn. Sori was not able to help for too long as he had a game late that day, a 12-6 loss to the Phillies, although Sori did have a solo HR and another run off a Zimmerman(?) double. DoubleU was useful, surprisingly so. We all expected him to dawdle and complain about how movers could easily make this move happen. He has over the years become more ingrained in the sybaritic life. He was always well off ever since I first met him, but the change in attitude has been palpable lately.

We had another friend, JewBoy, come to help us but he showed up late. So late, in fact, that he arrived after we had already arrived in Roslyn. He showed up late because he was busy smoking a bowl. And he was wearing flip flops. Have you ever tried to walk backwards down a truck ramp while carrying a sofa while wearing flip flops?

Here’s the thing that annoyed me most about JewBoy, and I do apologize if this is not politically correct, but as I came back downstairs to make another trip upstairs with some stuff, I saw him for the first time. He had one end of the sofa and said HI and then asked me WHAT ARE YOU GETTING OUT OF THIS? I was annoyed. HE IS A FRIEND. He is a friend and friends do not need coaxing to help with things like this, otherwise we are hired help. I do know that he will make it up to me, buy me dinner or some beer or whatnot, but that arrangement is a given and it is rude to speak of it and arrive at an agreement beforehand.

WELL, I AM GETTING FOOD. SO MNNEHH. Now, most of my friends talk about these stereotypes but I just think it is talk based upon enclaves of groups, such as the Jews in Merchant of Venice. But then something like that happens and I come to believe more and more that the stereotype may still have some predictive power.

Everything eventually moved into the new place and our friend was in a time crunch, so we all returned to our respective homes. All in a day’s work for a friend.