Goodbye, Mike

The illustration is one I did for the Piker Press story "The Health Club Gallery Tour" by Michael Price. He really got a kick out of it, and we planned on re-releasing the story when I got around to doing more illustrations for him.

Mike wrote stories for the Press for the last four years ... well, he wrote for the sake of writing, and the Press benefited from his work. The last one that got published was "Zucchini Bread: The Recipe" and this morning, I looked at the comments pending approval and found an ominous one:

"My taste buds loved many slices of Mike's zucchini bread over the years, and I will save this recipe since, unfortunately, Mike made his last loaves this past month. RIP, Mike."

My taste buds loved many slices of Mike's zucchini bread over the years, and I will save this recipe since, unfortunately, Mike made his last loaves this past month. RIP, Mike. - See more at: http://www.pikerpress.com/article.php?aID=6186#sthash.QETTDymd.dpuf

My taste buds loved many slices of Mike's zucchini bread over the years, and I will save this recipe since, unfortunately, Mike made his last loaves this past month. RIP, Mike. - See more at: http://www.pikerpress.com/article.php?aID=6186#sthash.QETTDymd.dpuf

My taste buds loved many slices of Mike's zucchini bread over the years, and I will save this recipe since, unfortunately, Mike made his last loaves this past month. RIP, Mike. - See more at: http://www.pikerpress.com/article.php?aID=6186#sthash.QETTDymd.dpuf

My taste buds loved many slices of Mike's zucchini bread over the years, and I will save this recipe since, unfortunately, Mike made his last loaves this past month. RIP, Mike. - See more at: http://www.pikerpress.com/article.php?aID=6186#sthash.QETTDymd.dpuf

My taste buds loved many slices of Mike's zucchini bread over the years, and I will save this recipe since, unfortunately, Mike made his last loaves this past month. RIP, Mike. - See more at: http://www.pikerpress.com/article.php?aID=6186#sthash.QETTDymd.dpuf

What a horrible joke someone has made, I thought, and then Googled Mike's name and town to see if there was an obituary. I couldn't find one, so I emailed the commenter directly and asked for an explanation. And got the worst possible one.

Mike died last Friday night.

Mike was more than a Piker Press contributor. He and I shared a great interest in NFL football; he was always ready to hear my latest rant about unsportsmanlike conduct or unbelievable plays. Our last correspondence was about this year's Superbowl and how we hoped (grudgingly) that Denver would win so that Cam Newton would SHUT UP.

We discovered we were both gardeners, too, (something to do in Off-Season) raising tomatoes and zucchini and whatnot, comparing varieties and techniques and the climates of Minnesota and California.

This past June, Mike submitted a piece to the Press called "Lest We Forget," about a -- letter? speech? -- to his deceased father, with a quote near the end of it:



"Hell, now I might as well just wait and deliver [this] in person.
Shouldn't be long now, Dad."

Ah, Mike, I wish you hadn't been right, and I'm going to miss you a lot, my friend.