Fat Mike

I met Fat Mike on the NJ Transit bus going to Menlo Park. I didn’t have the correct change to get on the bus. Mike changed my $20 bill which saved me a lot of hassle from the bus driver. Fat Mike (he literally fitted into 2 seats) and I started talking. It turns out that we ran over the same stomping grounds as kids…Tinton Falls, Asbury Park, Long Branch, Red Bank, Little Silver…He went to Rumson High; I went to Monmouth Regional. We played against each other in sports. Fat Mike made it a point to tell me he was a poor Jew and that he got along better with the “sisters” meaning black women, than he did with “his own kind.” I suppose this was he way of trying to bond with me.