It's What Old Men Do

 

I kind of thought Taylorsville had been spared the hurricane like trauma recently visited on this area. But today I had our long anticipated launch in the park adjacent to my apartment complex. My buddy Duane from my good old workdays decide to meet in the park away from any dine in type restaurants in respect of Covid 19. We made plans before the great blow. Like with most of my professional colleagues, now retired, when we eat they usually pick up the bill. Today we had cold sandwiches for some classy fast sandwich joint. I volunteered diet beverages, which I had in my refrigerator, I also drove along a package of open potato chips I've been munching on just in case this fancy sandwich shop didn't include chips… They did, fancy chips mine were barbecue. Space as I've mentioned before turned the corner even though the calendar says it's summer I've gone along sleeve shirts. I just feel more comfortable especially sitting under a tree in the late summer.

The sandwiches seemed large. I unwrapped mine and was pleased that it was cut in half allowing me to eat one half and save the remainder for this evening are sometime tomorrow, just as old people tend to do, the diet soda was great in the diet soda way. Pharmaceutically sweet never let anyone forget you can no longer read for pleasure but must always keep an eye on the scales and that's okay not about the food it's about having lunch with my buddy Duane. There's a girl there sitting underneath the tree and she had her dog tethered to that tree. The dog wasn't a rat dog but the dog was certainly a yapper and Duane and I moved far away from the little yapper expressing discussed at some young person who thought their animal benevolence was exposing the feast who loves to run free to a whole park but restrained the poor beast as she read her Proust or whatever. We talked about the virus and world events, natural calamities and of course politics out of control. We talk about how bad the situation was and how one couldn't write this kind of crap and have it be believable. We talked about struggling to be who we are at the age we are and how we seem to be nothing more than caricatures of clichés gone bad. Then of course we did the really old man thing and walked around the park surveying the damage the great blow had laid onto the trees. Again, without Taylorsville had dodge the bullet but not so. We came upon a tree that actually had yellow tape around like a crime scene. Oddly, the treated not been uprooted as much a snapped at the base. There were a number of trees blown over are snapped many of those which were snapped also had deep rot allowing the snap to happen. We marveled at the trees and discussed the end of times. Duane finally had to leave, he was still without power in his neighborhood. Major trees been blown over luckily, Duane has a gas generator keeping his freezer frozen, his food safe life intact. We hope to meet again before truly cold-weather sets in. Hopefully, but some dine-in operation we both deem safe. … It's what old men do…