Where’s my friendly helpful cashier? It must be her day off. Oh! I see her! She’s there outside the store. I wonder?
What are you doing on your day off from the grocery store today? You’re always nice at checkout but the guy today was really gruff. Can’t stay away?
You want to help me get the groceries to my car? I can handle it with my cane. Why do you think I have a classic car? A 57 Ford? Well I had one a while ago. Why do you ask? You think I’m about your father’s age. How old do you think I am? You say you had a funny dream? Was it about me younger in a 57 Ford? Yes I played football in high school. You thought your dream was about your mother? She’s not that old. Let me ask you if the dream went this way. You were a senior in high school and in the dream you liked someone very much. In the dream you were on a date with that someone in a 57 Ford and he gave you his high school ring on that date as his pledge. It was at a drive in movie and back then you could stretch out on the front seat of that 57 Ford couch seat without seat belts and you talked to the boy while you laid you head in his lap.
He promised he would be true forever but he needed to be away for a while.
You told me once your father was away growing up one time in the grocery line because you said he was in Afghanistan. He never came back home did he? Your mom brought you up alone with his picture on a wall at home with your mom together. You’re now raising your two children without their father aren’t you? Your grandmother Nicole helps keeping them during this pandemic so your mom can work too. Actually the dream was about 1967. I can’t be that old? Thanks! Your dream was about your grandmother Nicky. I know you remember your grandfather and how she cared for him when he had dementia until he died. It wasn’t him. The boy that night was named Jim. A week after that date he was inducted, or drafted, into the army and he went to Vietnam. He never came back. Later your grandmother Nicky married your grandfather and she stayed with him till the end. You say I can’t be that old. Thanks for helping me put the case of waters in the back seat but I’ve got to go now. When you get home ask Nicky if she remembers a boy named Jim. She still has her 1967 Yearbook.