The J Boys

I didn't believe it when the Jesuits told us that the friends you made in high school would become the friends you would keep the rest of your life.

Fourteen years since we graduated. The class of Ateneo De Manila 4J Batch 1990.

J Boys.

So the Jesuits knew what they were talking about.

The J Boys were together at one table in Edjie's garage. The J Girls were at another table. The J Girls were wives and girlfriends of the J Boys. The children, for continuity, I baptized as J Kids. I was still struggling with the names of each of the J Girls, so I postponed remembering names of the constantly populating number of J Kids.

The fashion and music I knew froze at high school. The way I dressed and what music I listened to had started to become a lasting trend, possibly a lifetime influence. So too were the stories I told and heard from the same friends.

Todd had arrived from Australia. He was already Australian. The event was in honor of his visit, a valid reason for the growing number of married men to drive out on a Sunday. Talk on the table were revivals of the classics.

I felt at ease. My blood pressure was good. I finished lunch just before arriving at the reunion with clear intentions of not eating further.

I declined the offer of beer.

I simply enjoyed the company of old friends.