"My New Best Friend"

Author William Diehl died last week. He was eighty-one. He authored many books including SHARKEY'S MACHINE, PRIMAL FEAR, and EUREKA. I read everything he wrote and I loved them all. There was something about the way Bill handled characters and plots that made me eagerly await each new piece of fiction he produced.

I first met Bill Diehl when he was living at St Simon's Island. I had been asked to do a "personality profile" on him for "Georgia Journal Magazine." I drove to St Simon's to interview him at his house. From the moment he answered the door he and I were friends. I don't know what we had in common, but something was there that bonded us.

The whole time I was interviewing him he kept saying he had made a new friend - and he had. I was in awe of him. In awe of his talent, his success, his love affair with his wife Virginia, and of his attitude toward life in general. He didn't just expect to have a happy and successful life, he demanded it.

I left St Simon's that day thinking I had a new best friend. Bill said he would stay in touch with me and over the years he did. Now that doesn't mean we talked all the time. We didn't. But periodically I would get a call from him or an e-mail. He would have something intriguing to tell me and I would listen in awe.

One of the great things was that Bill never talked down to me. I mean here he was a master of storytelling. I was an aspirer. He had more success than I could even imagine but he always celebrated my triumphs as if they were the equals of his. I was content to sit at his feet and learn but he lifted me up to his level with his friendship.

I never expected Bill to die. I knew he had had some health problems but I thought they were behind him. Maybe I didn't worry about his health because I didn't want to think of him as being sick. Not seeing him very often made it easy for me to assume and pretend that he was just fine.

Bill wrote a blurb for one of my books. After he had sent it he told me that he was going to send me a generic blurb so I could use it on every book I wrote in the future. I told him that was a dangerous thing to do since I might write something he considered really awful. His response was, "Not a chance!"

All those years ago when I first met Bill Diehl and he became my new best friend, I didn't have a clue as to how much I would miss him when he was gone. Now it has happened and I do miss him a lot.

Bill Diehl was a great writer, and I will hold on to his books forever. Bill Diehl was an even better friend, and I will hold on to his friendship even longer. There are a lot of people on this planet. Some make it a better place and some make it worse. The loss of Bill Diehl makes it a little less enjoyable than it was.

See ya, Bill.

 

 

 

 

 

©2006 Jackie K. Cooper

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