Looking For Larry
He was a friend of Beaver Cleaver,
Sort of chubby, awkward, cute
When they aired a show reunion quite a few years back,
June was elderly and Ward was dead,
And the kids were recognizable but clearly middle-aged.
They said they couldn't find the actor who played Larry.
Is he still with us? Did he lose weight and become a hunk?
Did he teach tennis to giggly sly girls?
Does he suffers from Alzheimer's symptoms now?
Would he even know his own identity?
Maybe he gave up show-biz to become a physicist.
Maybe he drives a taxi.
Maybe he made a fortune in stocks and lost it all.
Maybe he was a feared and respected CEO before the dot-com bust
And was turned away from his town's homeless shelter.
Maybe he's that gentleman mowing his lawn across the street,
Wondering if he used the right herbicide and if his wife cheats.
Maybe he's the gaunt guy infected with HIV,
Sitting in the waiting room, comforting his coughing companion.
Maybe he stepped on a mine in Vietnam.
Would his buddies recognize him? Did he tell them he was Larry?
No use checking the monument; only his real name would appear.
He had a mother on the show and probably a real mother, too.
Are both of them still living? Are they in warehouse nursing homes?
Does either mom remember Larry? Does either miss him?
I miss him. I've seen so many people since, and some I even loved.
After all, Larry Mundello was a minor character;
He was just an image,
A snowy grey image on a wobbly small screen
In a sitcom I watched only occasionally;
And, of course, like Edith Bunker, he never was real, was he?
Copyright © Rita Janice Traub | Year Posted 2006
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