A tall man with an angular gate pushes his walker to our back table. His venerable features showcase a handsome smile with penetrating eyes. His right eye is blackened. He leans over and quips, "I recognize the man over there. He points to Andrew, the Swede who sits next to me. Andy does not blink an eye. "Andy", as we affectionately call him, has given me a gift card. "Why thank you for the gift card. Your gift overwhelms me...ah yes," My attention is now grabbed by the newcomer.
He can barely walk and is all flesh and bones. you are welcomed to sit here. By all means. allow me to remove your walker to the back." My eye is directed to the tall newcomer's shiner. His ghost like features make it more black.
"May I ask your name?"
"Name of Bill, lost my wife a few months ago, and she told me come to the Huntington Beach Senior Center."
"Well, you come to the right place, yet you might just die of laughter...Where you from, I mean what city?"
"Canton, Ohio, not far from where the Wright brothers grew up. Dad opened a bread shop and prospered. I enlisted in the Vietnam War and wished to enter the battle but my general told me that they needed a bread maker more than a gunner. 'He told me that filled stomachs make better shots'"
"After the war, I returned to Ohio and learned the bread business. Dad got tired of bread making and sold the business to another man. The new owner took the machinery and tools to the state of Pennsylvania. He never paid him for his business."
Over a microphone John has told everyone to stand for the pledge. "George kindly remove your hat." After the pledge, we close our eyes and think holy thoughts. Naomi, a small Asian nurse reminds me to write about my brother Mel's problems with his ear and the fact that the dentist never returned with dentures or to pull a tooth.
At the Sea Cliff Health Center on Florida, I had taken the shuttle twice to a Dr. Rosenberg's office to remove a growth on his ear. The fist time we didn't have an appointment. The second time he queried, "What is he here for?" The shuttle to take us back to the health center never arrived so I had to push Mel to the bus stop and eventually return him to bed two. He is still waiting for the dentist and his new dentures.
Back to Naomi now. I met her at the Huntington Senior Center about two weeks ago. The retired nurse she took the 50 cents for a cup of coffee. But it must have been her heavy red lipstick that attracted me to this very petite Asian dame -- or just maybe her infectious smile. Naomi tells me to dig into he bag for more guavas. Of course I grew up on this fruit as my Grandfather had a guava bush in his front yard. Milk and orange juice is served. I ask Bill more about the bread shop.
"Well, I began another bread shop with the money my bride gave me. I had met Gloria in high School and met up with her again in church. She was in charge of the front of the store and me the back....We sold the bread out of our house, located beside the post office. During snowy seasons, I made a path from the post office to our store. We made gobs of money, so much that I even bought my Dad a home in our small town. Just about everyone could not leave the post office without licking their palates for some of my freshly baked bread!
"My problem was Asthma. I bought a motorcycle to release me from the smell of bread and a car careened into me. My leg and hip folded up and the doctor told me that I would get arthritis.We sold the business and moved to Florida but my wife and the gators did not see eye to eye. We then moved to California and fell in love with the smell of orange blossoms."
"Met Mr. Albertson and he allowed me to open one of his stores inside of Santa Ana on Seventeenth street. He had heard about my reputation in my Ohio town. I opened a few more. Got to know him well. We moved to Garden Grove where our home was awarded prizes for being the best model there for eight years in that track. ....I even went back east to learn how to decorate cakes. Became quite good at it."
The chili and vegies were served up. My attention tried to go to eating the chili and vegetables, but Billy kept talking -- guess you might think he had gathered a head of steam and could not stop the chatter. I sipped more milk from a straw and scooped up some tasty chili.
"Nobody could decorate cakes as well as I. Ed Albertson took note and I began to teach those in the cake department my newfound craft. My wife became sick and I needed money so I took out a second mortgage. My relative kept taking money from me so eventually, the bank made me sell my Garden Grove property to some Vietnamese who gave me more than I asked. With money from the sell, I bought trailer in the Bolsa Chica area."
The lunch now over, I decided to visit the piano room. Don was leaving folks clustered around me and wished to know how I could play without sheet music. "Well you know, if I now the melody, my fingers do the rest. I have no control of these didgets as they have a mind of their own.
The Senior Center reenergized my battery, and then I walked over to the library across the street, to write what you are now reading.
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