Who is Michael Dale Meyers? by Philana Marie Boles

I was conducting a Q&A session during a school visit at Key Biscayne Elementary in Miami when a boy raised his hand to ask a question. Anticipating the usual, “What’s your favorite color” or “What’s your favorite food?” that the children always love to ask, I smiled and waited. But instead, with his big brown eyes and adorable little face, he asked, “Who’s Michael Dale Meyers?”

My heart thumped and I felt my eyes triple blink. What had he just said?

I realized that – though Little Divas was dedicated to Michael Dale Meyers – no one had ever inquired about his identity. And so I’d never quite been prepared to answer. The dedication had always just simply been a special bond between his family and me. After gathering my thoughts, I finally answered the young student.

“Well,” I said, “There is only one guy in the entire world who has ever been capable of getting me – Philana Marie Boles – to do N-E-THING that has N-E-THING to do with worms. He was my dearest friend in childhood and his name was Michael Dale Meyers. I, however, called him by his family’s nickname, ‘Tuna’.”

I looked around at the sea of students and noticed the quiet shift in their eyes. They’d all been impressively attentive and enthused during our time spent together, but there was a new curiosity now. And so it was my absolute thrill to tell them more.

“Tuna” and his family lived next door to mine while growing up. He had a beautiful black dog named Rufus and his sister a cat named Suki. Tuna and I were inseparable. From sun up until the street lights came on we were navigating some adventure that he’d concocted. Sometimes his backyard was a forest and we were stranded soldiers missing in action. Other times my backyard was an amusement park. Running to the edge of the porch and jumping off with your eyes closed was the main attraction. The cost was five dollars – payable with a hand slap – to ride. Sometimes, for what felt like hours, we’d just swing.

In the evening we’d catch lightning bugs and build communities in cleaned mayonnaise jars. Before we went in for the night, we’d always let them fly free again, though. That was a rule.

And often, yes, we’d dig for worms...