Have you seen my
cap? I asked my wife Sally.
Which
one?
The one that says NY
on it, that David got me for Christmas. David is our oldest son and the
NY was for the NY Giants, the football Giants, a team of which, since I grew up
in New York, Id been a fan of, mostly a long-suffering one, since I was a
kid.
No. When was the last
time you wore it?
Well, lets see,
I always put it on when I go out and I went to the pool room this morning, then
I went to Safeway to get the bread you forgot to get for me
yesterday.
I didnt forget.
I had too many other things on my shopping list and you didnt really need
it.
I didnt need it
yesterday but Ill need it today.
So go to Safeway and
get it.
I have to find my cap
first. Maybe I left it in the pool room.
Didnt we go to
the Galleria yesterday? We had lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. Maybe you left
it there, like when you left your credit card there.
Sally and I lived in a
Northern California retirement community, Sun City Roseville, and the Galleria
was Rosevilles main shopping mall. That was six months ago and
youre supposed to remind me to put my credit card back in my wallet. You
forgot that time.
Hah! said
Sally.
Sally and I were both senior
citizens and Id noticed that wed been forgetting things more and
more recently. This was whats referred to as having a senior
moment, or, as we called it, a Sun City moment.
I tried to recall what
wed did yesterday. As Sally had said, we went to the Galleria. This was
to return something Id bought Sally for Christmas, a neck and back
massager from Brookstones. It had sounded good as described on
Brookstones website and had gotten a lot of positive reviews, but instead
of giving a gentle massage it had pounded on Sallys back, and my back,
too, when I tried it, like an enraged masseur. I knew I had my cap on when
wed left Brookstones because after that Sally had gone to
Macys to buy some makeup stuff and Id said Id go to the
Cheesecake Factory and meet her there.
Brookstones, needless
to say, was at the opposite end of the mall from the exit I needed to go to the
restaurant. After walking for what seemed like a few miles down the mall
corridor I spied what looked like a fairly comfortable chair and headed
directly toward it. After Id collapsed in it I noticed that the fellow,
who also looked like a senior citizen, sitting in a chair next to it also wore
a cap with an NY on it. We got into a conversation and found out we were both
New Yorkers, me from the Bronx and him from Brooklyn. His name was Phil.
He too lived in a Sun City, not our Roseville one, but its sister
retirement community in nearby Lincoln. Added to that, he was a tennis player
like myself, or like Id been until my knees gave out, and had also played
handball back in New York. When he mentioned Victor Herschkowitz, whod
been the Babe Ruth of handball when I was a kid, I knew Id found a
kindred soul. We talked about our New York days until I realized I hadnt
seen Sally come by and I told him I had to go as I was supposed to meet my wife
for lunch. We quickly exchanged phone numbers and e-mails and said wed
get together soon. I rushed to the Cheesecake Factory, or rather plodded as
quickly as my knees allowed, and luckily found Sally just coming
out.
Where have you
been? she demanded. I looked all over for you in the restaurant. I
was going to look for you in the mall. I thought you might have fallen or
something.
Why would I fall? I
met someone
..well, lets go back into Cheescake and Ill tell
you all about it.
So thats how I knew I
still had my cap while in the Galleria.
Had I left the cap in the
restaurant? I tried to remember but I drew a blank. I thought I still had it
when we got back. Im going to Lodge and see if I left my cap in the
pool room, I told Sally.
A half a dozen or so of my
fellow retirees were in the pool room when I got there. Nobody had seen a cap.
I went into the Lodge office where they had a lost and found. The box had a few
caps, a jacket and a cell phone, but not my cap. I drove back home and called
Safeway. No, nobody had seen a lost cap. Why dont you call the
restaurant? said Sally. I did but the girl who answered told me that
nobody had turned in a cap yesterday.
I guess Ive lost
a cap, I told Sally.
It wont be the
first one, she said.
At least it
wasnt a credit card, I said.
The phone rang. The voice on
the other end said it was Phil. I didnt know who he was for a moment but
then he said, Phil. We met in the Galleria yesterday. Phil from
Brooklyn.
Oh,
right.
I have your New York
Giants cap.
You do. Howd you
get it?
When my wife finished
shopping she wanted to go to lunch. I remembered you said you were going to the
Cheesecake Factory so we went there. I asked the hostess if thered been
another guy there wearing an NY cap. She said she thought there was and kind of
waved to the back. I went and looked. I didnt see anyone but I saw a cap
at one of the tables and recognized it so I picked it up.
Thats
amazing.
I guess so. I was
going to call you yesterday when we got back from the mall.
Why didnt
you?
I guess I
forgot. It was a Sun City moment. My wife reminded me just
now.
We talked some more and made
a date for Phil and his wife to come over to our Sun City for lunch the next
week. Ill write it down, said Phil.
So will I. Better yet,
Ill tell my wife.