What Lab School Jr. Rainbows Do

I’m eating dinner in Liliha Pizza hut last night. A guy, younger, comes in. I call out to him. I haven’t seen him in years.

We say hello, he sits. I find out he’s got a degree in English too. From Michigan. His brother, also a Lab Schooler, went to Washington, majored in Anthropology.

“Say, you’re both Harvard men too, right? I seem to have heard you both got your Masters there.”

“He’s Harvard, I’m Yale. I have an M.A. in Ethics”

“And your brother?”

“He did an MBA.”

“Wow! And now you’re in art, and he’s in, what is it? Electronics, right?”

“An electrical engineer. Circuit design.”

“You don’t need an engineering degree to do that?”

“No. If you’re hired, then it’s a kind of earn-while-you-learn job. He came in on the ground floor. Great company. They’re paying for him to attend law school.”

“Geez, you two are real Lab School products.”

He laughs. “Yup. We owe it all to Uni-High. If it weren’t for that school, I don’t know if we’d have tried so many things.”

“You do art now, right?”

“Yeah. Sculpture.”

“And you’re selling, making a living?”

“Yes. I work on commission. Word-of-mouth. Someone likes something. Asks who. They find out it’s me. They ask about a certain kind of piece. Like that.”

“That’s great.”

“Hey,” he says, “good running into you. I gotta pick up my pizza.”

“Sure, sure. Hey, can I add you to the new Junior Bow alumni website I’m building?”

“Yeah, sure. What information do you need? “

“Just your best email address. Then you can tell me any other kinds of info you’d like to post. Photos, job information, website, mini-bio. Stuff like that.”

“Can I send it to you?”

“Sure, yeah, definitely. My email’s Lanning Lee at gmail dot com.”

“Okay, Lanny, I’ll get that to you.”

He goes to the counter, gets his pizza. That’s a real Lab School product. He and his brother both.

I continue eating my pizza, go for another slice.

“Hey, Mr. Lee,” comes a voice from my left.

I turn, and it’s one of my old Lab School students. “Hey, how you doing? Man, it’s a Lab School mini-reunion in here. I was just talking to a Junior Bow I went to school with.”

She smiles. “Ta dah! We’re everywhere, huh?”

“Yes, we are. Go Junior Bows. Hey, I’m building a new Junior Bow alumni website. It’s to replace the old one. You were on it, right?”

“Yeah, the one where I was listed with my class, with my email and phone number? That one?”

“That’s the one. Can I put you on the new one?”

“Definitely. I’ll send you that info. Is it still Lanning Lee at gmail dot com?”

“Yes, yup, that’s the one.”

They call her. “Gotta go, Mr. Lee. Take care.”

“You too.”

I go back to my seat. This is exciting. Now I’m eating pizza and watching the door simultaneously, waiting for the next Junior Bow to come into Pizza Hut tonight.