MEMORIES ON ANTICH

Dear Sir, I was having a cortado in Palma the other day and fell into a desultory conversation with a man perusing a local paper next to me. He pointed to a photo of our fearless local leader and said, “I know him. I went to school with him.” I bit my tongue, half convinced he was about to follow up with a paean of praise and reminiscences of a sunny youth spent in the leader's company. He didn't. He just sighed slightly and said, “He was a jerk when he was sixteen and he's a bigger jerk now.” He didn't actually use the word “jerk”, but as I've noted in another context, this is a family newspaper, so “jerk” will have to do.
George Scott
Scott's Hotel
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