Aaron Mills

2002-06-03 - 8:45 a.m.

He borrowed money for coffee and smokes. He was short and cocky and had a thousand stories to tell, and even though only about half of them went anywhere, he was always the star.

We would trudge through the backwoods of SPAC. We would go off-roading and watch freight trains go by. We would sit in Denny's until all hours.

He had a very nice mommy. He had a very nice son.

One time I drove to Florida and for company, he and one of his girlfriends came along. She couldn't drive stick, he didn't have a license. On the 1500 mile drive home again, I had a terrible sunburn, an ear infection, and some sort of chest cold, and not only did they not help with the driving, but they fought the entire way home. Every inch of the 1500 miles. In fact, they only got along at the hotel we stayed at in North Carolina, which I paid for, but they got the bed and I took the floor.

He was one of the greatest people I ever knew. He was a living cartoon character, a local celebrity, a ninja, a member of a global community.

He's another face in my photo album who has died.