She walked around the table and stood about two feet away from me. “Hello, I’m Anna Burke.”
There was so much I wanted to do at that point: hit her, bite her, and then run screaming from the room but I couldn’t do anything like that and feel good about it in the morning.
“I’m Keri Powell.”
“Any relation to Danny Powell?”
“Yes, he’s my husband.”
“Really?”
Anna’s expression was a cross between being interested and not giving a crap about anything.
“Keri!” Daniel exclaimed as he walked back to the table.
I turned and walked over to him. “Thank you, honey. Isn’t he quite the gentleman?”
“Your drink, my dear.”
I took one of the glasses and his hand.
“It’s nice to meet you and to see you again, Danny,” Anna replied with a smile.
“You too,” Daniel replied as he squeezed my hand. “Honey, the chess club wants to have an impromptu picture taken of everyone and the significant others.”
“Please excuse us,” I said to Anna and then hurriedly walked away with Daniel.
“I see Anna found you.”
“Thank you for going along with me.”
“There really is a chess club picture going on.”
“I’m all for it. Oh, and Anna thinks we’re married.”
“I’m all for it,” Daniel replied with a grin.

I looked back at Anna for a split second, but enough to see her talking with she group she arrived with. My mind was jumping to conclusions faster than a politician in midterm debate: Were they talking about me? Did she remember me from that long ago? Did I make a terrible wardrobe decision?

Daniel stopped in front of a group of twelve guys. Half of them had hair as long as Willie Wilson, and the other had barely any hair on their heads. They were either on their phones or in the case of two oif them, playing a game of chess.

“Look at all of these old guys,” Daniel exclaimed as he put his hands on his face in an homage to “Home Alone”
“Daniel-san Powell,” One of the long-haired guys said with a mild bow.
Daniel bowed back. I kind of wanted to know what the Karate Kid reference was all about but decided not to ask. “How are you guys doing?”
“They’re still slow they can’t checkmate in four moves.” A voice boomed from behind us. We turned to see a man who appeared to still be living in the 90’s: he was wearing parachute pants, had a goatee, and jet-black hair. “You guys ready for the photo?”
“Tom, did you swipe those from Vanilla Ice or MC Hammer?”
“Hey they stole their look form me, okay?”
The four guys shook hands with Tom and I aced.
“Will, Marty, reset the board, it’s for a picture…no, that’s a good set-up let’s leave it like that.” Daniel said as the guys took their position.
I took a step back as an old man with a camera, circa 1989, shuffled his way over and took several pictures of the guys. Daniel then walked over, took my hands and lead me into the picture.
“I was never in chess club.”
Which was true. Not that I didn’t want to be, but it was always held during noon and that was the time that I was a part of the Vocal Ensemble—a special group of singers. Think “Glee Club” but with a bit more emo, angst, and less glee. We would do chats and vocalizations. I believe our “happiest” song would have been a rendition of a Scatman John song.
Daniel, though, loved playing the game, but I think he just enjoyed the company of like-minded guys. At the time, I kind of thought of them as guys who would either accidentally create a hydrogen bomb or be the stand-in boss for Apple, which, in reality, would mean I would be their supervisor.
“You’re an honorary member,” Will replied with a wave of his hand to have the others make room.
“Let’s make this good one. Check in three. Three, two, one…”
“Check!” We all yelled.
“Unfortunately, that’s not ever going to be in a yearbook.”
“Facebook?” Daniel asked.
“You’re on Facebook, Daniel?”
“Yes, Marty, I am. Surprising as it is.”
“Is that where you two met? Because I do not remember you from any classes. And, pardon me for saying this, I’d notice someone like you.”
“But you wanted to be the invisible man,” Will stated as the others went back to playing.
Daniel stood between me, Will, and Marty.
“No, I didn’t. But…I swear if I ever saw him again, I’d either punch him in the face or greet him with a handshake...and then a punch to the face.”
“Anthony Kedias isn’t going to be here, in any way shape or form,” Will stated as the music playing in the background faded.
I froze a bit at hearing that name as well. I did have something in common with the guys in the chess club: we were all Tony’s punching bags at one time or another.
“He’s not here, yet, Dan. It’s a when, not if.”
My first day, of course, was when I first met him.
“People change, Marty.” Tom replied.
Two months later, without any warning or provocation, he slammed me up against my locker.
“People lose hair, people gain weight, but an ugly attitude never changes.”
During the holidays, he came to where I worked but didn’t recognize me at first.
“I’m sure he’s forgotten about the past. There is life after high school,” Tom replied with a wink in my direction.
A month later we were nearly tearing out clothes off one another in one of the school storage rooms.
“High school never ends, Marty,” Dan replied with a sigh.
He said he’d meet me later on that night, but he never made it to our planned rendezvous. He never returned for graduation.
“How’s he even going to be here? He didn’t graduate from Roosevelt,” Will said as he sat back down at the chess board.
“Have you talked to anyone else tonight, Will?”
“Don’t plan to, Dan. However, I am interested to know who you are,” he pointed at me, causing everyone else to look at me.
“This is my wife, Keri.”
“Take absolutely no disrespect, but did he bribe you to come here tonight?”
“No, I came on my own free will.”
“And you two are really…?” Marty inquired as he toppled Will’s queen.
“Yes.”
“Wow,I…I apologize, Dan…I mean, I sound like a dick right now.”
“Just right now?” Tom laughed.
“We’re going back to our table. I want everyone’s Whatsapp info before you leave.”
“Catch you later, Daniel, Keri.”
They exchanged multiple rounds of handshakes, salutes and some form of ASL, Alien Sign Langauge, I assumed before Dan walked with me back to the table.
“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” I asked as I held his hand.
“It’s a real life broadway show to me.”
“Do we need to plan a story on how we met?”
“That might be a good idea. People ask those kind of questions…”
There was a screech of feedback as someone yelled into a microphone: “Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome our master of ceremonies, Anthony Keidas”
Dan’s voice trailed off and he stopped. “He’s here. Oh God, why is he here?”
We both looked at main entrance to see Anthony Kedias run in with a round of applause from just about everyone, including Anna who rushed to hug him.
“Should we leave?” Dan asked.
“No, it’s a large reunion. They can’t be everywhere at once and as long as he’s on the stage, it looks like Anna’s going to hover near him.”
“I wonder what he’s doing with himself now. What kind of job can one get from bullying others?”
“Football star, a police officer in a small, podunk town, or a politician maybe.”
Yeah, he was probably a state senator.
“Thank you, Principal Myers. Good evening, Roosevelt High’s class of 1999. It is fantastic to be here! Can I get a “Rangers, Ho?”
The crowd responded with a deafening chorus of “Rangers, Ho!”
We walked back to the table we were at earlier and sat down.
“I’m not going to talk for long. I’ll save the long-winded speeches for Olympia.”
I looked at Dan and we both nodded.
“Time passes for us all and during that stretch, things become lost and people become forgotten. I want everyone here to know I remember everyone, I remember everything, from Mrs. Carey winning the great donut eating contest, our wins at the Kingdome and our undying school spirit. These memories are important to me, as they make me what I am today. I am a state senator for District 1and I wish I could say I got there because of my charm and good looks, but no, it was because I feel for people of Washington and I know the feel for me.”
“An impromptu stump speech. He could he have waited until everyone was drunk first,” Dan whispered.

The crowd applauded like their lives depended on it and Anthony’s face went into the widest grin you’d think he just won a presidential election. I I admit I missed that smile; it used to bring me so much happiness.