James Arness Passes

“Mom, why are you dressed as Ms. Kitty?”

Mom just hums a song I’ve known since birth.

“Seriously. It’s creepy. Put on twenty-first century clothes.”

She points towards the computer. In big bold letters.

JAMES ARNESS DEAD AT 88.

“Oh.” We stare at each other. Me dressed like a rational human being and she dressed like…well like Ms. Kitty. The belle of Dodge City. James Arness was just an old man on my television growing up. To her? A baby boomer? Arness was an old friend. Someone she saw weekly for more than twenty years.

Jerry Orbach. Homer Simpson. James Arness. Our long-lived televisions heroes.

We’ll miss you Marshall Dillon.