PORTLAND, Maine – Every year around this time, the city’s bars and clubs are flooded with an influx of college students who are home on Thanksgiving break. For most of these young adults, it’s the first time they’ve seen their friends in person since shipping off to school in August and spend the evening sharing the latest gossip from their institute of higher education.

For one local middle-aged man, whose friends have all moved away and started families, this weekend is a time to connect with the younger generation by regaling them with stories from his high school glory days some thirty years ago.

“We just have so much in common; you know?” said Michael Donovan, a construction worker and aspiring rap artist. “We all went to the same high school and played football, so, naturally, I had to tell them about that time we would’ve made it to the state championship game if coach had put me in the game. It’s a classic.”

“I don’t know who that dude is,” said Zane Harper, a University of Maryland student and Deering High School class of 2020 alumni. “I was wearing a Patriots t-shirt and he just came up to us and started talking to us about high school football like we should’ve known who he was. It totally ruined my buzz, no cap.”

Donovan has built somewhat of a reputation among the local bar scene for his behavior. Bill O’Shea, owner and general manager of O’Shea’s Pub and Tavern said Donovan is one of the most complained about patrons at his establishment.

“Mikey and I went to high school together,” said O’Shea. “His stories are bogus and get even more full of shit every year. He wasn’t even on the football team; he was the team’s manager. He got us water and washed our laundry. I’ve kicked him out more times than I can remember. If he wasn’t a regular and I didn’t feel bad for the guy, I’d tell him he couldn’t come back.”

O’Shea also said he feels bad for Donovan who, unlike the rest of their classmates, never went to college or left his hometown to explore what the rest of the country, or the world, have to offer.

“Look, everyone has their path and I’m in no place to criticize him because I’m right back here, too,” said O’Shea. “But at least I moved away for a while. I spent a year living abroad and spent years traveling the country and getting some culture before I returned home. I’m pretty sure he still lives with his parents.”

“Why would I move out?” said Donovan. “I don’t have rent. I don’t have to pay for groceries. All my peers are out there stressing about debt and shit and I’m living my best life saving my money to send my mixtape to the record labels. There’s a deal in my future, I can feel it.”

When asked about the stories he tells about his high school experience, Donovan said, “I’m a poet, man. A weaver of rhymes. The illest MC east of Portsmouth. I may play with what’s real and what isn’t, but ain’t that what Stephen King does? Why’re you up in my grill about this and not his?”

Stephen King was not available for comment.

After being kicked out of O’Shea’s, Donovan was later asked to leave a club on Warf Street after a 22-year-old woman complained about the “creepy bald guy” hitting on her.

You can check out Donovan’s latest song Momma’s Boy, available now on Spotify.

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