I thought of Niall today for the first time in, well, I don’t know how long. I last saw Niall in 1975 which come to think of it was fifty years ago. We were never exactly friends, I don’t recall Niall having any close friends but everyone liked him. He had a girlfriend, Christine. It was one of those deals where they were exclusive but they didn’t live together or anything. They both liked their independence. I don’t know what happened between them. For all I know they’re married with a passel of kids. Christine was tall and attractive but not beautiful. She always seemed serious and distant to me. Niall was also tall, maybe six-two. He was gangly with a large tuft of unkept hair on his head. I remember him wearing glasses but I also remember him without glasses on. So I can’t be certain. He paid little attention to his physical appearance as indicated by his always unruly hair. He always wore jeans, sneakers — Keds, I think — a simple dark tee shirt and a corduroy jacket. You’d think that Niall would have blended in wherever he went but be had a presence to him. You couldn’t help but notice him, though I’m not sure why. He didn’t do anything to draw attention to himself. He was never loud or boisterous, he didn’t tell jokes or talk a lot but you were always glad to see him.
Like the rest of us in our circle he was going to Cal. I can’t remember for sure his major. Might have been philosophy or English Lit. He always, and I mean always, had a paperback with him and he’d take every opportunity to read it. Unless he was perusing the Chronicle or some other newspaper. I remember Niall being described more than once as “well read.” Hell, I probably said it myself. Yeah, I think Niall preferred having his nose in his book or the paper than talking. But he was unfailingly polite. And smart too. Jesus, he was a bright guy but not at all pretentious about it. He was a good listener. If you talked to Niall it was always a two-way conversation. In fact, on a couple of occasions I saw him break off conversations with people who were rattling on. He suffered fools badly and had no patience for people who didn’t know when the hell to shut up. It was something about him I admired.
Niall followed politics avidly — hence the newspapers — and had some well-formed ideas but wasn’t fanatical about anything. Like most of us he was to the left of center but didn’t see issues through the prism of a political philosophy. He could get adamant about a point especially if it were related to empirically verifiable fact but he never raised his voice or got angry. Everyone respected Niall. But come to think of it he never got to close to anyone, not even Christine. None of us would have been considered his “best friend.” Was he aloof? Not in a way that put anyone off.
Cal was pretty good in football that year, they tied for the conference title and had the best offense in the country. Niall was among the group of us that went to games together and sat in the top row of the rooting section. He got into just like everyone else but he never went nuts after a touchdown. He’d talk about the game and the team and football in general with the rest of us but not as much as we did. He wasn’t obsessed. Niall followed the basketball team too. He was a decent player himself, good enough, I think to have played on the high school team but not much beyond that.
I don’t know what his musical tastes were. I’m pretty sure he liked contemporary rock like the rest of us. I remember him speaking highly of Neil Young and Laura Nyro but beyond that I’m not sure.
He drove an old beat up VW Bug, but only rarely. Mostly he got around on a bike and wasn’t above taking the bus. I saw his flat once. It was pretty basic. He had a mattress on the floor, a desk and chair. A lot of books and papers were piled here and there. There was one poster on his wall. I think it was an Ansel Adams photo. He had a tiny black and white TV set that I imagine he used mostly to watch the news.
Niall was known for only drinking two kinds of beverages, beer and coffee. Neither to excess. He liked the kielbasa at Top Dog. He sure didn’t have expensive taste in food.
I don’t know what happened to Niall after that school year. There are three friends of mine who were acquainted with Niall. I asked them. One said he went to grad school back east, another said he stayed in Berkeley but traveled in different circles, and the other said he moved back home for a year because his mother was real sick. But no one was sure of his hometown. I also got three different answers about his last name. One person said Quinn but I think he was confusing him with a British soccer player named Niall Quinn. Another said it was a Germanic last name. The third admitted he had no clue. This obviously renders googling Niall impossible.
So I’ve no idea what happened to him. I hope good things. Given how intelligent he was and how together he seemed I imagine his life has turned out well. Maybe he eventually married Christine. My friends didn’t remember seeing her after Niall left the scene. Could be they took off together.
If anyone knows Niall, ask him to drop me line.
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