Nate's Way

I'm thinking about my friend, Nate, tonight. He and I worked in the same outfit for a while.

Nate understood that the Man wasn't going to hand him anything, so he had to look after himself. He started laying up every buck he could find, and fifteen years later, he said, "I've got over a million put away." I asked where, and he said, "All mutual funds."

The next to last time I saw him was the year after 9-11 and he said, "I lost over 300 thousand dollars!"

The last time I saw him was the year after that. He anticipated my question with, "It's all fine, now!"

Sometimes, it was hard to tell what Nate was really saying.