The Center has been my salvation lately. With my State Teacher's check but by by $142 each month-and to continue for the next two years until their book keeping error has been exonerated.
The Huntington Beach Senior Center has kept me afloat during Obama Times when the middle class has joined up with the poor. Those without mean can obtain a half-a-belly full of food at the new center in the rear of the Talbert Library on Golden West Blvd.
But its not the bingo, movies, chess, or fitness room that makes me return day-in-and-day-out. Its the people -- just like me,that are the star attraction. Just take today for example.
"Let me move over, so you can sit by your wife...I see that you wear a U.S.C. sweatshirt..did you go there"
"My name is Bob and that is my wife Sally ...I was on the water polo team at U.S.C. in the sixties. A friend in Connecticut got me a scholarship to U.S.C. where I majored in education. I was on the swimming and water polo team where I lettered and got my administrator credential."
His wife Sally smiled at him while a chicken crab salad were served. She was better than average height and owned a radiant smile while looking at her tallish handsome-brute of a husband. Others at the table were Mildred and Andrew.
We sit in the lunch room that sits thirty tables and over one hundred people for feeding. Our table is in the back -- way in the back so my words can't infect the digestion of others. Not to mince, words I wished to keep the conversation bouncing, like a volleyball.
"Married Sally after my divorce in '88. She was twenty years younger."
"He did not ask me...He told me that I must marry him! I'm from Pittsburgh. My Grandpa worked in a mine for years but never came down with black lung disease. He enjoyed his vegetable garden and I used the raspberries he grew for my cream of wheat cereal. I was closest to my cousins and my Dad was a wheel dealer who made deals to keep us afloat."
"Let me talk Sally. I became an administrator in a school in the Buena Park area. We had many a dinner with Mr. Knotts of berry fame and his wife. He was simple and meek and happy...After my divorce, I lived inside a trailer and during the L.A, Olympics, Buss allowed me to park it by the Sports Arena. He bought it from Cook, the previous owner of the Redskins."
By this time, Tony's son showed up and he too helped us dig up stories from the past... Why just the other day, a Colonel spoke about 220 missions flying in the Vietnam War and we re-opted to three times during the war. His wife spoke about how her father had written the license plate of Bonnie and Clyde that helped the police capture the duo.
Every-buddy has a story. Each thinks, like me, that ours is the best. And each comes to enjoy the mirth and family atmosphere that their home does not provide. I left the center with my buddy Billy. I met the lass at a bus stop a week earlier. We took a short cut through a hiking trail below. Since fall was sure to show its leafs sooner than later, we enjoyed our bout on the cement bench. She marveled and how great I looked.
Well I save up my pennies just to have a haircut from Mr. Hoeng. Every time I get my retirement check, I bus it to his shop barber shop on the north east corner of Golden West and Warner for my cut of the month. The other day I asked him why he chose to cut hair.
"Back inside San Diego, I played football and one day a tackle asked me to trim his hair. Ever since that day, I have wanted to cut hair. I get a cut from the other barbers and what I trim I put away in savings."
"Well Billy, my gal Gloria told me moon-ago that she judges a man by their head and shoes. Ever since that day, my head and feet have become a priority for me...She was and is the love of my life."
Today the 15th of September, Beth sat at our back table. As usual, I probed her with my scalpel -- I mean my mouth. She returned to the back table and knew that anything-goes at this back table.
Beth looked to be spinster with charm and a Wonder Bread body. She wore a Green Bay Packer sweat shirt which revealed a well endowed upper body.
"So, you from Wisconsin. Probably graduated there."
"Yes married my first husband there and began teaching school. But after my hit-and-run divorce, I moved to Marin County in the Bay area...Since my ex flew planes, I jumped at the chance of working for the "Flying Tiger Airlines" when one of my friends spoke about the San Francisco Airline."
"Wasn't General Chennault the one who bombed Tokyo at the beginning of World War 2, and didn't he fly off of an Aircraft carrier?"
"Yes, that's the one. We flew out of San Francisco during the Vietnam War with stops in Alaska, and the Philippines before landing inside Saigon."
"I carried the supplies on board the ship but was unaware that some of the recruits would return in body bags."
During our discussion, the breaded fish, soup and shopped fruit was served. Bertie, can you pass the salt. Thanks. Bertie had just joined the table with the Swede and the gal from Brazil.
"Did you have other jobs Beth?"
"Yes I continued with my teaching career. I taught ceramics and graphics on computers...But the job I loved was working for a traveling college. The college kids visited different European countries, and thank God they needed an English translator.
"But of all of the countries, I enjoyed the one called the Pearl of Europe by tourists. All Czechs who visit Budapest return with the same response. 'Budapest isn't even close to the beauty of Prague.' "
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