the ninth Beatle

the ninth Beatle

fiction
edward w pritchard

The ninth Beatle just passed away.

From the old neighborhood he played baseball and football with us and lip synced Beatles records as a Paul McCartney impersonator pretending  to air guitar for screaming female fans in our grade school gym after school when we were 12 years old.

Once we dated the same girl at different times I recall. He was one of the dishwashers with us at Young's restaurant to earn extra money. When we were ten he came with a few other guys to play tackle basketball in my basement; throwing a basketball through a bicycle tire hung from the rafters of our basement until my Dad came home to complain about the dust.

Then he was an integral part of the defense on our high school championship football team.  Achieving a scholarship he went on to Hiram college to play football as a defensive back. Later I heard he had a career as a teacher and coach.

Growing up on the Ohio canal from a large family in Castle Homes Mike Knepp was a fixture in the old neighborhood who became to me one of those friends that one sadly loses touch with later in life.

I heard today Mike passed away. He will be missed by me as a dear friend.