Leslie Burger (LB): Do you remember the first time you kissed me?
Alan Burger (AB): Yeah. In the sewer pipe.
LB: Not filled with sewage.
AB: Yeah. It was still above ground,
LB: And I don’t know if you were really serious about that kiss as much as you just wanted to tell your friends, but—
AB: I never kissed and told.
LB: Okay, good.
AB: Why, did you?
LB: Well, I told my mother that I kissed you. I said, ‘I think I’m gonna marry him.’ And I was 12 years old.
AB: Well… it’s okay to make a big mistake like that.
LB: Yes. Poor judgment.
AB: [Laughing] Yeah.
LB: But I remember when you gave me that wonderful birthday present. It was a beautifully wrapped box and I was very excited because we had had …
AB: [Laughing]
LB: … the kiss and I thought this was like really progressing…
And I unwrapped it carefully and opened the box. And there in the box was this snake, that was wriggling and scared the hell out of me.
AB: And it may have been one of my snakes that I had to get rid of ‘cause it bit my little brother.
LB: Oh, so why not give it to your soon-to-be girlfriend?
AB: Yeah.
LB: Another wonderful gift you gave me, you came up to me very, serious and perhaps…
AB: Really?
LB: …to give me a kiss, and then you took a bunch of eggs and smashed them on my head. I had these disgusting eggs dripping down my face. I must have looked like an omelet.
But I stayed with you anyway.
AB: You did.
LB: I think once I decided that you were gonna be my boyfriend …
AB: [Laughing]
LB: … Whether you liked it or not, I was gonna persist.
AB: Yeah that’s probably true. I did those stupid things to you because you were the prettiest girl in the neighborhood… But a lot of other boys were interested in you. So how do you stand out?
And those things may have been… uh…
LB: Obnoxious?
AB: Yeah.
LB: But I would always forgive you… Because despite all the mean things you might have done to me… in my mind those were always acts of love…
AB: So it worked!
LB: [Laughing] It did work. And the good news is, you grew out of that phase.
AB: I mean, by high school things changed quite a bit. The sixties were difficult years. Nonstop chaos. Nonstop war… and you and I realized that we could be each other’s anchor.
LB: Yeah. Even though you were still a little nuts, but… [Alan laughs] …I don’t know if I could have had that with anybody else.
AB: I think that’s why you’re so special.
LB: And your ability to make others feel loved is pretty special.
AB: Thanks.
LB: Thanks for always supporting me.
AB: Of course. With a snake and an egg.
LB: [Laughing] Right.