sad news... old news... but news to me...

yesterday I was talking with an old friend about the old days and the people of the old school
that is what us old folks do... we talk smack about the way things were

in our conversation I made mention of a guy named Marshall
I could picture him as we talked about him
his unique looks... his unique style... his strong large hands with unusually large thumbs
I could see him all mellow... laid back... taking a bike that he freshly built out of the stand... then riding a wheelie real slow through the store to where that bike would be put in the rack

I knew Marshall from The Bicycle Pro Shop... there was a moment in time when I would visit him in the repair department... I would bring him a slice of pizza from a place that no longer makes pizza and he would tune up my Bianchi Super Grizzley... which had that "one year service warranty"
the managers did not seem to mind... they were cool with me

it was always cool to hang out with Marshal
we came from different launching pads and lived very different lives
his recount of the weekend was always a bit different than my own
stories of his wild parties were always more wild than mine
and craps... well, I do not even know how to play craps
much less understand how someone could be better at rolling dice than another

well... I brought up Marshall who I had not seen in years since I ran into him at an underground bicycle repair shop that was run in Columbia Heights by a woman who was a retired messenger (Double Deuce)
when I mentioned him and asked what he was up to I did not like what I heard

sad to hear... when I brought up his name I learned that Marshall was killed in a drive by shooting
not sure of the specifics
but what I heard was not pleasant
nothing pretty about a bullet to the head

no way to check the facts
taking word of mouth as gospel

either way sad to hear...
no reason not to believe this
no way to verify this

I know... I will check with Super Dave... Super Dave always has the facts
his brain is like the Library of Congress for DC Folklore of my era
http://gwadzilla.blogspot.com/search?q=super+dave