The Bittersweet Apophyllite
When I moved to Connecticut in the early 1960’s, I met a retired physician who was also interested in minerals, and we became collecting friends. Henry was a quiet, dignified gentleman with a strong scientific mind who appreciated the marvelous aspects of crystals and mineralogy. At one point early in our friendship, he showed me an Apophyllite specimen that his son had acquired for him while traveling in Brazil. While not a “world-class” piece, it was very nice, with two well-formed lustrous 3cm crystals sitting in a hand-sized chunk of matrix. It was appealing enough for me to make a light hearted attempt at humor by suggesting that I would be happy to trade him some locally collected poor Quartz crystals for it. In typical fashion, he didn’t ridicule this joke, but just smiled and made some innocuous answer. But these silly little remarks became the basis of a humorous tease that went on for some 25 years to follow. Whenever we were together, while collecting, at a club meeting, or just socializing, one of us would always try to have a witty proposal ready for the other about the Apophyllite. It might be a dry comment about trading an old car, or the best piece in my collection, or a favor, such as free lawn mowing for life, or whatever. These quiet, sly exchanges sometimes consisted of only a few words, a quick reference, or even a look or wink at the right time. We always expected the other to have some new complicated scheme in the planning stage that was related to my getting the coveted Apophyllite.
Our wives were never sure what was going on with these oblique maneuverings, and probably thought we were both a little crazed (and maybe we were!), especially when the phone would ring at some odd hour, and it would be Henry, wanting to explore some new insane swap scheme on me. We tried our best (although not always successfully) to come up with novel, clever plots to try out on each other, springing them on the other as surprise moves! We used the telephone, greeting cards and telegrams, notes in a bottle, anything we could to keep the plot interesting. And, obviously, we never wanted to consummate the trade, only to keep the tease going!
Henry died while on a trip in the 80’s, and a short time later, I learned that he had included in his will a mention of the Apophyllite. In his typical, soft spoken, dignified manner he had left the piece to me. The almost constant lighthearted teasing of the past 25 years had come to its end along with the life of my friend.
He had managed to get the last joke in.
The Apophyllite now sits in a prominent position in my collection. Whenever I look at it, I remember Henry, and our long-term joke, and realize that sometimes it is just those kind of silly interplays between people that help make true, long lasting friendships. I know that I won’t part with this specimen in my lifetime, it has just too much of a bittersweet memory attached to it.
Larry Rush
