best buddies

lone ranger & tonto.

batman & robin.

charlie brown & snoopy.

kevin arnold & paul pfeiffer.

kevin & paul? we all need someone we can fall back on, be they masked or 4-legged. someone whom we can ride horses with, fight crime & share secret identities with, or someone who'll just listen. we all need best friends.
kevin & paul were the comsummate bosom buddies in the ex-ABC dramatisation of middle class USA in the tumultous 60s, "the wonder years". narrated by the adult kevin, the series traced the friendship between the 2 boys from junior right thru high school, highlighting the close comradeship fostered through years of bitter-sweet sharing, competing & bonding.

it's tommy's birthday today. he was my best friend when we were in secondary school. we clicked from our common interest in chess. initially we only met on thursday afternoons at the chess club, but our friendship forged closer as we also discovered that we support english football clubs & enjoy pop songs. eventually, we hanged out on tuesdays after school to get our favourite football magazines & also most weekends either playing chess or football, or both. we got extorted one night at a dark alley. we even wrote to girl pen-friends who were classmates, & whom we visited together in penang during one of the long school vacations.

he taught me the guitar & i developed a crush on his sister, both of which were futile exercises as i still can't strum to save my life & i never got beyond to asking his sister out on a date - i'd like to think that he & his parents would have approved of me. ha, ha! (funnily enough, both kevin & his childhood squeeze winnie cooper pursued an on-off, rollercoaster relationship but eventually married another). he did grade 13 at taylor's & subsequently studied & settled in canada while i did varsity in kl.

we have not met since. wherever you are, tommy, happy birthday & i wish you & your family well. thanks for those wonder years , buddy!

photo : chess club 1976


tommy is standing at the extreme left, while that bespectacled geek standing 2nd from extreme right is yours truly. on my left is my classmate jamal, now more famously known as the CEO of maxis. & you thought i didn't have friends in high places, ha!