I knew him very well. He used to live next door to me and he was in my class at school. Now let me see, what can I remember about Monty.Well I can tell you one thing, Monty is the last person I'd have expected to have become a famous artist or indeed a famous anything. I can tell you, he was very ordinary as a boy. No one in their right mind would have expected him to have become famous.
Now let me think, what was there that was noticeable about him. Uh, yes, when I come to think about it there wasn't really anything very noticeable about Monty. Yes, indeed that's what's always struck me about Monty, there has never been anything very noticeable about him at all.
Indeed it wasn't unusual for teachers who had been teaching us for months to forget his name. In fact I don't think they'd even remember it in the first place. When we used to have role call, if Monty was away, when the teacher called out his name and got no reply, they'd usually ask who he was.
Monty used to hang around with me, not so much because he was a friend but more just because being the same age and living in the same road and going to the same school we'd tend to be at the same places anyway. No I don't think you could describe Monty as being one of my friends.
Not that I minded him hanging around with me, to be quiet honest I never really used to notice him when he was there and I certainly never missed him when he wasn't.
There wasn't much difference either way anyway.
Monty was never really noticeable because he was one of those people who was average at everything, he could play sport ok, but he certainly never shone at it, and it was the same with school work, he was never bad at it but on the other hand he was never good at it either.
I don't remember Monty ever getting in trouble over anything but then neither was the one of those kids who was always creeping to adults. I don't think he ever had any big rows with his parents but on the other hand I don't think they were particulary proud of him. They had nothing to be proud about but then they had nothing to be ashamed of either.
Monty had two younger sisters who were pretty much like him. They all looked alike and there was nothing noticeable about any of them.
I suppose Monty must have drifted out of my life some time after we left school, I can't say that I really noticed when. In fact I only really noticed that he wasn't there anymore after people started asking me if it was really true that I'd known the great Monty Cantsin as a child.
If he hadn't been brought to my attention in this way I must say that I'd probably have forgotten that he ever existed. He just wasn't the kind of guy that you remembered. I mean there just wasn't anything memorable about him.