My Gal Kay

Vero Beach, FL

I have a new girlfriend.  Her name is Kay.  Here's how we met.

I was sitting alone waiting for a bus.  Along came this woman.  She just launched into a one-sided conversation as if we were old friends.   The woman was kind of handsome, but she was really ancient.  I guess close to 100 years old.

Kay first complained about a car that nearly ran her down.  Then she told me that last week she bought 10 mangos for $10 at Farm Fresh.  She had to carry them home because there were no busses at that time.  Then Kay told me about her husband Jim.  She told me about her macular degeneration; what she could see and not see; and how she declined the treatment.   Then I learned about her father John.  John took her on a walk from Poughkeepsie to Beacon when she was five.  In Beacon they have a very fine cathedral you know. She skied at Mount Snow in Vermont with her sister.  She had five siblings.

Her husband complained about her overuse of long distance, but she was glad that she called her sister because her sister died the next day.

Kay had attractive legs when she was young; that's how she got her husband.

Her arm hurt from carrying the mangos plus a heavy bottle of milk; not too big a bottle but heavy anyhow.  She couldn't cross herself when she went to mass, so she had the priest do it for her.   She asked the priest why it was so hard to be old.  He said, "keep praying."  She went to the doctor, he felt her arm.  She told him that she remembered everything she ever read, and recited the Charge of The Light Brigade for him. Then she recited the Charge of The Light Brigade for me (correctly I assume)

All this happened in 10 minutes.  I hardly said a word, but I knew Kay's whole life story.  As the bus approached she said, "Anyhow, getting back to the mangos...."   We walked to the bus and Kay warned me about each crack in the pavement.  She has memorized them all because she can't see them. As we got on the bus, the other passengers and the driver all seemed to know Kay.

Kay was inspirational.  She showed that really old people can be vivacious, entertaining, and fun to be with.   I'm sorry that I didn't get Kay's picture to show to you;  I was afraid to interrupt her story.