A few weeks ago he did not report to work and his boss did not receive a call. This was more than a little uncharacteristic of him. Even if he partied a little too hard the night before, he always managed to get into work the next morning. His co-workers tried to contact him without success and became quite nervous after a couple of days as the shadow of his absence grew into something bigger. Finally, after seven days without reporting into work, he was terminated from his job following standard protocols. Eventually, we got word that he was locked down in a federal prison, arrested on drug trafficking and weapons charges. In speaking to his closest friends, they had not been able to get in contact with him because of prison phone rules. Nobody can even visit him because his cell block is quarantined due to the outbreak of some sort of highly contagious disease.
Even though my friend may have spent some time in his past in a prison cell, this has to be an unimaginably painful time in his life as he worries about his future and comes to understand how quickly his world has come undone. Of course, most who have heard the rumors probably have assumed he was busted doing something stupid and will dismiss him with a callous joke. Not me. I know this man and his heart and the great potential that he has. I will notice his absence and miss him, regardless of whether he is guilty of the charges against him or not.
