I first met Matt when it was 1981. He was a runaway from South Detroit, only about 10 hours away from here. And of course, since Copper Harbor is such a small place, he stood out like a sore thumb to us natives. He was dirty and walked around with an old backpack and nothing else except for the clothes on his back. I heard rumors about him from the bar that I worked at, at the time. Jeff, who owned a fair amount of the boats in the harbor cause of his fishing business, saw him sleeping on the pier one time. Carol, the lady that would always ask for a shot of fireball every Sunday after church, found the boy wandering the forest. She said she almost shot him by accident since she confused him for deer. I called bullshit on her when she first told that story. She shot anyone at first sight on her land. And if I remember correctly, whoever owned the Quick Stop on the boulevard said that he stole a burrito by clogging up the toilet with old playing cards. …show more content…
Hell, I’m the reason he stuck around Copper Harbor longer than he planned. When I was 17, I worked at the Zick’s bar on the corner of Variel and Ruben before you turned right on the boulevard with the broken streetlight that blinks faster every 2 minutes. I was in charge of cleaning tables, sweeping, or whatever odd job Mike wanted me to do. I didn’t mind most of the time since I think the people in our town are far more eventful when their drunk than sober. Most of the time I just kept Mike and Holly company and tried to stop them from killing each