Strange Bonds: Ronald Linehan

Ronald Linehan, when I knew him best, was a 6'2" 30 year old man covered in wiry black hair and acne, rarely seen not wearing his favorite Jurrasic Park t-shirt (though he often paced the house shirtless). He was my friend. Ron had a low IQ and a sense of social development that was arrested around the age of 12. He and his parents lived a few houses catty corner to my own. Ron had gone to school with my older brothers, and they loved to make Ron laugh (which Ron was prone to with little provocation). And since I spent so much time with my much older brothers, I spent time around Ron. Living with his parents, he had all the time in the world to do whatever he wanted, really. This entailed mostly playing basketball in his backyard, drinking several pots of black coffee a day, and spending the rest of his time playing video games. It was an awe-inspiring video game collection. He had every system on the market, and all the classic ones, too. Countless games. And that steering wheel/pedals peripheral for driving games. It was my discovery of such treasures that intitiated our friendship. I often went over to Ron's house after school to play video games, or just watch Ron play video games. He was a masterful player. He was committed, working at it for countless, coffee-addled hours. I remember walking over to his house, after I hadn't seen him in a few weeks, excited that he would have a new video game. I remember walking up the steps to his front door and ringing the doorbell thinking (with somewhat exceptional introspective insight for my age, I think) "Am I coming here because I want to hang out with Ron, or because I want to play video games?" Both, I thought, waiting. Nothing wrong with both.