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I went to high school with Charlie and he lived in this house. This is in a wealthy neighborhood in north Atlanta near Oglethorpe University.
We graduated in 1968. Charlie was a starter on the football team and he was accepted to Georgia Tech. They don't let you in there if you are a dummy.
There were no drugs at Chamblee High School in 1968, but, Charlie started smoking pot in college the next year. Charlie dropped out of Georgia Tech.
We worked together for 5 months in 1969, we were brick mason's helpers together on a big apartment project in Atlanta.
After that I went on to Georgia State University and I lost touch with Charlie.

But another high school friend of mine's parents were good friends with Charlie's parents, and went out to dinner with them about once a month. And about 1993, I got an update on Charlie. To my astonishment, I learned that he was still living in Mommie's basement. Charlie didn't have a job, and he would get up at noon and have a joint for breakfast.

Well I could scarcely believe this. In high school Charlie was the most popular boy in the school, handsome, intelligent and a great athlete, the girls loved him.
I continued to get updates through the years and it was always the same. My last update was from 5 years ago, the parents had passed away, Charlie was still down in the basment, he had inherited the house. Charlie had never had a job and he would get up at noon and have a marijuana cigarette for breakfast. Or, some might say for lunch.

I was in Atlanta yesterday for Christmas parties and I decided to drive by Charlie's house. I looked up his address on the computer and I drove over there. There was an old beat up car in the driveway but it looked driveable. There were several lights on in the house.
As I drove around the house I was astonished to see there was massive damage to the house.



Evidently a big tree had fallen on the house. You could tell from the look of the wood, and from the lack of a covering tarp, that this had happened a long time ago.
This is a neighborhood of millionaire homes. I looked up on Zillow, the house next door is valued at $740,000, and the one on the other side is at $1.2 million. All the houses in the neighborhood are well kept up, lawns are groomed and the trim neatly painted.




I saw a neighbor walking by, he was walking his dog. I said to him "This house looks weird, what is with all the damage here?"
He said "A tree fell on that house 4 years ago."

I said "Well what is the deal is the house abandoned or what?"
He said "No, some old guy lives there by himself."