Never did I think that our discussion would lead to Passover in Jerusalem, but it did.
Again we visit the Oak Cafe at the Encinitas Senor Center. Lady Barbara is gushing with new found energy.Without propping her legs up, she now sits. A radiant smile envelopes her face Also at the table are Horst, Abe, Ron, Thomas, and your's truly. Lady Barbara now speaks.
"George, I feel great now. The doctor across the street gave me medication for my heart and also pain pills for the back. And the good news is my heart registers 85 percent now from only 50 several months ago. The good doctor was quite pleased to see these results.
Horst tries to interrupt but Thomas will have none of it today. Thomas had a three day growth on his face but looks happy."
"Let her finish. Let her finish."" he pleads to Horst. Horst is now silent- at least for the moment.
Horst Kahn wishes to show me something. He is dressed like a golfer including his white cap that matches is pants and multicolored shirt. Like always, he looks as if he has won the Master's Golf tournament. His face reveals a devilish smirk. . He removed a piece of paper from his pocket.
"Look at what they wrote. I spoke to five classes and they loved it. The teacher at Hillside High in Oceanside loved my talk. The students wished to know what I ate during my stay in the Auschwitz camp. I told them about the time a lady gave birth to a baby."
"One hand rose up. 'Was she happy to have it,' the student inquired. 'No' I responded. 'The birth of the baby presented a bloody mess'"
'I told the class that we can no longer watch how people suffer. We must not ignore but help them. and I survived by loving my enemy. One of the teachers gave an assignment to them. Each student has to write a letter to me."
"George, look at what they wrote about me in their school paper. They loved me!" Also, another school invited me and they will pick me up!"
At that point a plate of chicken, rice and other vegetables was served. Barbara could not eat a thing. She was happy to be alive. The rest of us dug into our food. Horst ate the continental way. He cut his meat with his right hand, turned the fork around and ate with his left. The food was delicious, more so because of the laughter and love from our table. I turned to Horst again.
"Why are you not taking bread today?"
'Hey dummy, don't you know it is Passover."
"Oh, I forgot. It is time for Matzo. And that reminds me of what the Reverend spoke about on Palm Sunday at the Catholic Immaculate Conception Church. I will try to paraphrase his message told to this group.
Christ came into Jerusalem on Passover. He knew about his impending ending. Judas betrayed him to the Romans...They made him lie on thorns and stomped upon him...They put his clothes back on and then nailed him to the cross. Passover reminded Lady Barbara about why she named her dog Caleb. .
"God told Caleb to look over the land he would give to the Jews. He did but saw a large enemy living there. The other elders would not take the chance to go down below. So when their generation died out, he and Joshua took their flock to the promised land."
Now since the subject turned Passover and our forefathers wandering in the desert, I asked Lady Barbara why she got involved with a pet ram.
"We had several dogs and my husband Jay had Bechtel come out to build a high fence for it. The only trouble our dogs had were the trespassers. One day, I my daughter came running up towards me. 'Mom, our dogs have surrounded a man on our tree.' Well I looked out the window and sure enough, one man had climbed our mighty Oak and a dog had grabbed the pants legs of the other one."
"I took a class in Husbandry at Cal Poly in Pomona. I was supposed to watch the animals but one day the herd came towards me. I screamed and jumped. God intervened to rescue me." (Not finished)
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