Cheryl

Took me three hours to go two miles today. That is a lot of blabbing. Came across Joe sitting on his usual bench. He hadn't been out in awhile. "Where you been", I said. "Bad knee", he answered. We talked at length. An Asian woman came along. I hadn't seen her for a long time. She used to be fairly regular. She is about five foot seven, dark hair, good looking, slim and trim, always happy exuding a singing energy, always wearing ear buds, walking like it was dancing. "Haven't seen you in a long time". She answered, "I was in Taiwan for six months. I am Chinese". "Really", already starting to flirt, I said, "I learned philosophy by studying the Chinese Tao Te Ching". She was unfamiliar as most Chinese I have talked to. "Ever heard of the I Ching?" "No". "How about Lao Tzu?" "Oh yes, I have heard of that". "Even Tai Chi is a form of Chinese philosophy", I continued.

Joe asked her name. "My name is Alice in Wonderland. My real name is Ah lam which people don't remember so I changed it to Alice." "And the wonderland is so people don't forget it", I added. "Precisely". Joe made some comment about the wonder of it all. Joe asked to see her ring. She said she wears it to ward off men. I said I notice woman wear the ear-buds to do the same thing, or they might pull out their cell, and pretend to talk on it. Said she is not married though. I said, "I am looking for woman; trouble is I'm almost seventy and poor". She said she has a boyfriend and he is seventy-one, and she is twenty years younger than him. She said she met him at a bike club event about two years ago. She said he is poor. She rides a bike now and goes to the gym, which is the reason she doesn't come out here much any more. "Two years and I knew you then. My ex hadn't left me yet. On the other hand I have been separated about two years. Just missed you" I said; "You still got the suntan". "I love the sun", she replied. Joe said, "You look good". We were thinking where does the money come from? She seemed to grasp the implication. She made it apparent that she had money. A gorgeous vibrant rich woman with a guy my age who is poor and I just missed her, assuming there would be any compatability of umpteen other things.

So Joe and I got up and began to walk when Arthur came along on his bike. He is another regular but always bikes. Joe was suppose to be out on Monday to buy a book from Arthur but wasn't, what with the knee problem. Arthur had been carrying it on his bicycle all week. Arthur had, some years ago, enlisted a lot of people to contribute short stories of themselves to his book about the lake. He gathered the material, did the lay out and graphics, published it, had book signings and promoted it all himself with the help of the people who provided stories and photos. It is gorgeous, professional and good enough for the big time. Great photographs, a whole history of the lake and stories and pictures of all the regulars. So Joe bought a copy. He expressed to me some days later that he regrets he wasn't around when Arthur was collecting stories, and regretted not being in the book. He wanted Arthur to do another one so he could be in it. I told him I would pass along the sentiment to Arthur next time I saw him which I did. But Arthur is not inclined to take on such a project again. And this I relayed to Joe. "Missed your fame", I said.

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