The pic that forced the end of a friendship

One night many years ago I get home after a rough day of tax season. I open my email and find one from my long time friend Jon (I referred to him in previous blog entries as Jon Blondie, the gentle-hearted giant). I open the email to find a pic attached:

That's a pic of Sung Hi Lee's back. I didn't think anything of it. Probably deleted it, or knowing AOL, it probably was automatically deleted.

A couple days later I get a frantic call from Jon's girlfriend, Marlene, who was living with him. They needed me to go to their apartment immediately. For whatever reason, I couldn't head over. It was likely due to tax season work load.

Jon also gets on the line. "We would like you to come over so I may offer you a formal apology," he says.

"What for?" I asked, at a near giggle.

"For that email I sent a couple days ago," he answered.

"What email?" I asked, with my brow deeply creased with furrows.

"We just need you to come over," Marlene interrupts, "it's convoluted."

"Convoluted?" I asked in complete befuddlement. "What's going on here?"

Jon chimed in quick, "The email with the nude girl in it. I shouldn't have sent it. It was wrong."

I erupted in laughter. "You mean the picture of the girl's back? Was she nude? I couldn't tell since NOTHING was exposed."

"It's convoluted," Marlene persisted.

"Bob, I'm sorry," Jon added.

I laughed harder. "Please. Don't be sorry. It's nothing. I wasn't offended. That's all. I see no reason to head over."

"Bob, it's convoluted," Marlene repeated, then hung up.

"I gotta go," Jon said and hung up abruptly.

Within the next couple days to follow I had a chance to speak with Jon about that night. It appears that Marlene was trawling through his laptop, checking up on his emails and was furious that he:

1. Had such a picture
2. Sent out such a picture
3. To a guy with a girlfriend

I burst into a new fit of laughter. This was the same girl who goes to topless beaches, and now she's getting paranoid over a pic of a BACK. WTF?!?!?!1 Plus why should he apologize for even sending it. The bigger question was really, WHY WAS SHE SNOOPING IN HIS PERSONAL MATTERS? What's with the power trip?

Shortly thereafter Jon fell off my radar. I only spoke to him on rare occasions from then on. Marlene didn't like that I wasn't offended by a BACK so she didn't want around a pervert like me. Phucdatshit.

After that day, Jon had a surprise birthday party that I was invited to. That was the last time I saw him, as he has moved to Brooklyn without letting me know where. He probably wasn't allowed to let me know because of a pic of a girl's back.