Photo by Phyllis Stokes
By Bill Stokes
Kickass, the doorstop dog, noting the keeper’s concern with the approach of his 9/11 birthday suggests that when you are as old as he is you cannot be trusted to be accurate with age numbers, grocery lists or travel instructions.
Fortunately, there is a cultural mechanism that kicks in–“Oh, that’s just the old man being the old man. Give him the right-of-way at crosswalks, open the door for him and for god’s sake don’t take seriously anything he says.”
The fact that he was about to celebrate his 70th birthday 23 years ago when the Towers came down gives the keeper a unique perspective on when and what-for it is appropriate to party. He cancelled out his 70th Birthday party, but not the current one that finds it acceptable for him to transpose numbers and vision himself at 39, living the good life with Phyllis and presenting her with a private accordion concert and later-sans appropriate dress, doing a campfire accordion appearance for his non-musical family.
“Oh, that’s just the old man……..”
Photo by Bill Stokes