This morning I was informed of the passing of my good friend.
He ran a Bard's Tale website at about the same time I ran my own site. I messaged him annoyed that he appeared to be running his site in competition with mine.
His response was one of sympathy. He told me he wasn't trying to compete with me. I realized that he was right and apologized for my message.
We started talking back and forth, at first mostly about Bard's Tale related topics. As time went by, we started to discuss other topics. I was going through a rough time, and he offered to fly me to his home in Minnesota for a couple of weeks.
During that visit, my friend and his wife and I walked to the KFC that was a few blocks away. The first thing that struck me was the 2" bulletproof glass separating the staff at the counter from the customers. You had to talk loud through a break in the glass when placing your order.
As we were leaving the KFC, a person with a 10 speed bicycle was coming in, and he said to me, "Hey man, ya wanna buy a bike for $10?" I declined, and my friend and I debated the price tag still dangling from the bicycle's handlebars.
I went home, but 2 years later he again invited me to come stay at his place for a few weeks. I agreed, and we worked on a computer file that was supposed to highlight BT3 monsters for the Commoodore 64. We never did manage to complete it, but it was partially working.
2 days before I was supposed to return home, the 9/11 terrorist attacks happened. My friend came home from work that day, and after supper we took a walk around the neighbourhood. Strangers would ask us if we were okay as we walked past their front porches. I never experienced this sort of thing before (strangers asking if you were okay).
I returned home 2 days after the 9/11 attacks, having to wait until the borders were open again. It would be several years before I would see him again, during the summer of 2009.
I was moving from where I had been living, and I ended up making a stopover at my friend's house.
For 6 weeks.
There was this movie theatre that also served as a restaurant called "Cinema Grill". We went there to see the (at that point) latest Transformers movie.
I finally moved on from staying at my friend's place and continued to western Canada, which I would make my home.
We kept in touch via phone calls. He came up to visit me a couple of years ago, and he was supposed to come visit me again this spring.
I am posting this because if it hadn't been for Bard's Tale we would have never crossed paths.
Rest in peace, Scott Nelson. I hope you are at peace.
