Ray E. Barber

In March or April of 1979 or 1980

My younger brother, who was little

And I, who was not,

Found an attaché case

Alone

In the hotel lounge

Of the ski lodge in Winter Park, Colorado.

It was a large square case

Black, with gold letters by the handle:

RAY E. BARBER

I don’t know who read it, or who said it out loud, but

We chanted all around the room

RAY E. BARBER

RAY E. BARBER

RAY E. BARBER

We marched out chanting

RAY E. BARBER

RAY E. BARBER

RAY E. BARBER

We chanted in the elevator

RAY E. BARBER

RAY E. BARBER

RAY E. BARBER

We paraded down the hall back to our room

RAY E. BARBER

RAY E. BARBER

RAY E. BARBER

Today my mother works at

Washington University and she says there is a facilities manager there whose name is

RAY E. BARBER

She says he is from Colorado.

Have you met my

Younger brother?

He teaches second grade.  


This was written about ten years ago. It does not include what may have been the best part of the story, which was that after we stopped, a group of little kids we did not know picked up the chant, and were heard echoing in the halls of the hotel for days afterward: Ray E. Barber, Ray E. Barber, Ray E. Barber