ANOTHER CHILDHOOD LEGEND PASSES

I got a mail from Alice yesterday saying that her father died Saturday night. He was 92, so it's not quite as sad as some of the other recent deaths.
Now, Alice and I became best friends way way back in elementary school pretty much in spite of our parents. My parents were not pleased because her father had gone to prison for tax evasion, and was a well known antisemite,among other things. I didn't care what her father was. I liked Alice. End of story. Our friendship started when I lent her a book just before her dad was sent to Danbury and her mom took her and her younger sister out of town until he got out. One of the very first things she did when they got back was to return the book.(yes, I still have it) That clinched it for me. No one, but no one would ever get in the way of our friendship. Then, we moved to the same road they lived at the very end of. I was at her house more than mine and vice versa. After my brother and I got our little Boston Whaler, Alice and I could often be found out on the bay. One year we started our own home made bagel business in my kitchen. Those were some good bagels. Alice was and still is the best bread maker I have ever known. That girl can cook. In fact, there's not much she can't do. She's a Maine Guide after all.
In spite of the great distance between us, the connection is still there. In fact, it's because of her that I got my first computer! It's also a tradition that I call her at her parent's house every Christmas morning. I've done that every single year since I've been here. When I was living there, I just went to their house.
Over the years her father got over her best friend being Jewish, and kept what he called a Kosher ham in the fridge for me. To his credit he never once said any thing Anti Jewish to me, maybe because he knew it wouldn't make any difference. I was there to stay. One day he did try to take the shot gun to me. My mother was the world's worst driver and it was usual that if she went down there to pick me up, I'd meet her at the end of their driveway. If she had tried to drive up it there was a good chance she would have driven right into their kitchen. On that particular day he decided that she was insulting him by not driving up and came out with the shot gun. I looked straight into the double barrels and told him why she wouldn't drive up, walked down to car, drove it up and parked by the door. Mom got out and had a drink with Alice's parents and that was the end of that.
I can't remember if that was before or after the great over night scandal. I was supposed to stay over night there and he objected to it very strongly. Her mom actually stood up to him that time, and told him that I was staying, that Alice had very few friends because of him, and he wasn't chasing me off too. Yup, I stayed. And now that he's gone, I can't just hop on a plane to be there with her.
Alice, who jumped in her car and drove up from Boston both times I went into labor, Alice who was a bridesmaid, Alice who was there when my mother died, Alice who went to my ex's funeral because I couldn't. Alice, my best friend in the whole wide world. Alice. My heart aches that I can't be there.