Swimming with the wrong fish - Nassau

My goal for my blog is to record stories from my life before I forget them. It's hard to believe I'd forget about swimming with sharks. Okay, shark. One shark. But this story has slipped in and out of my mind on several occasions.

My brother lived and worked in Nassau for a while at what was then called the Balmoral Hotel and Beach Club - as I recall. Definitely, the word Balmoral was involved.

I was visiting with my friend, Nancy. We knew there were sharks in the area but my sister-in-law, Beth, assured us that they came in at night but spent their days out beyond the reef. Have a feel for where this is headed?

So one day, Nancy and I were floating on our backs in about four feet of water off the hotel beach when this conversation started:

     Nancy: How do the sharks know to go back over the reef in the morning?

     Me (with a condescending tone and absolutely no knowledge of animal behavior on the land or in the sea):  Instinct. They're animals. They just know. We have nothing to worry about.

     Five seconds of silence.

     Stranger on the beach:  Shark!

Nancy and I straightened up and looked towards the beach where a shouting man was pointing at a fin, a fin that moved along the shore in that smooth glide I'd seen shark fins do in documentaries. The fin was between us and the beach.

Not a moment for strategizing. It was a moment for reaction and we both had the same one: get out of the water. We began to run for the beach.

Now, with some distance from the event, I can see that running towards the shark, while probably slightly disconcerting to the shark, is not actually the best approach. But that was what we did coincidentally making a big splash which is apparently very appealing to sharks. (This was pre-Jaws so a lot of this information had not been discussed ad infinitum.) We were heading right for him.

And then, a hero! His name was Werner and that was about all I recall except that he rushed into the water and jumped with a great splash directly in front of the shark. The shark didn't like that splash. He turned and headed back where he came from which was, by the way, not over the reef.

Nancy and I staggered out of the water to safety. I should admit that the top of my two-piece bathing suit was no longer in place. I fixed it before there were any repercussions involving hotel security. However, I did coincidentally have a slight tear on the strap of my suit. I have no idea how it happened, but it was not during that encounter. When asked about it, however, I was always tempted to respond with some variation of "Did I ever tell you about the time I had to escape from a shark in the Bahamas?"

Not a lie.

© 2022 Jane Kelly

There was a consolation prize - Mia, Woody and Dustin

One nice thing about living on the Upper West Side in the 1980s and 1990s was I saw people all the time who had succeeded. I am sure there were many highly successful people that I didn't recognize but it was hard not to notice the ones in the entertainment field. Especially, if they insisted on coming out of their apartment house looking like themselves. I'm looking at you, Madonna.

And so it was on a warm and sunny Father's Day, I was walking down Columbus Avenue with my friend Pat when I realized Woody Allen and Mia Farrow were walking beside us. I mean right beside us. As if we were walking four abreast. I knew it was inevitable. Pat was going to notice. She did.

Pat: Jane. ..

Jane: I know . . .

Silence. 

Neither one of us wanted to act like tourists. Well, Pat might have been willing but she knew I would kill her.  She didn't speak until Woody and Mia (I feel it is unnecessary to clarify that this happened before it all hit the fan) moved ahead. 

Pat: Can we just walk behind them for a bit?

We were very discreet. We crossed Columbus and walked along something like 75th Street on the opposite side. Unobtrusive. Just observing. One thing we observed is that Woody and Mia walked very fast. They reached Central Park West before us. We stood on the corner looking uptown and downtown, but they had disappeared - most likely into the building where Mia Farrow lived and Woody sometimes filmed.

Me: I'm sorry, Pat.

Pat: Don't worry. There's Dustin Hoffman.

Such was life on the Upper West Side in the 1980s.

© 2022 Jane Kelly

Memories: false or faded - Liz, Dick and Carol Channing

There was a time in the United States when you said "Liz and Dick," everyone knew who you meant. Elizabeth Taylor's affair with her Cleopatra co-star Richard Burton was a tabloid feast. This story was followed up by tales about their respective divorces and subsequent marriages. Yes, marriages. There were two. To each other. 

I have no idea what stage of their relationship they were in when my family and I walked into them as they headed into Sardis. I wrote about this in a blog entry Fame is Fleeting. (We were cutting behind a huge group of people waiting for a glimpse of them and were stopped to let the couple and Liz's two sons pass by into the restaurant. Apologies to the hundreds of people waiting hours for a look.) 

My point is I hadn't thought of this encounter for years until Carol Channing died. And after that, it took some complex thinking to get the memory right.

The topic here is memory. False or faded? I can't always tell. When Carol Channing died I wanted to comment on Facebook that I had loved her in Hello Dolly!, but had I really seen her in Hello Dolly! or was I remembering her appearances as Dolly on The Ed Sullivan Show?  I had no idea. I had to research to find the answer.

1) I went to the Broadway database.
2) I found out the timespan when Hello Dolly! ran.
3) I looked at the other plays that were running at the same time and verified that I had not seen any of them.
4) I noticed that Richard Burton's Hamlet was playing during that same time period.
5) I recalled running into the actor with Liz Taylor outside the theater.
6) The only reason I would have been in the New York theater district during Hello Dolly!'s run, would have been to see a show.
7) The only show I even suspected I saw during that time period was Hello Dolly!
8) Ergo, my memory of Carol Channing in Hello Dolly! was correct.

With the price of tickets on Broadway, maybe it would be cheaper to hire an IT professional to implant false memories for me.

Some of my faded memories shock me. They just pop up or I find them when scanning old photos. I recall telling a London cabbie how someday I had to get to the changing of the guard. When scanning, I found a photo of me at the changing of the guard but in winter uniforms not in fancy gear.  Maybe that was what I meant. I am giving myself the benefit of the doubt.

Friends tell me I gave them a tour of Las Vegas but I swear I have not been to Las Vegas since it became "Vegas." I really think that one is not on me.

Given my Carol Channing experience, I am going to use this post to record shows I saw as they pop into my mind. I have a feeling there are a lot of shows that still need to pop up. I remember not seeing shows, e.g. Miss Saigon, Phantom of the Opera, more clearly than I remember seeing shows.

Here are some I did see:

The Music Man with the original cast. The first Broadway show I ever saw. (I rode in an elevator with Barbara Cook decades later when she was performing at the Waldorf Astoria. I regret I didn't tell her how much I loved her in that show, but I don't talk to celebrities even to offer compliments.)

Hello Dolly! Apparently.

Mame. My favorite Broadway experience ever. Angela Lansbury. Bea Arthur.

Pippin. Ben Vereen and John Rubinstein. Before I loved him in television series Family?  No idea. Apparently, Jill Clayburgh as well.

Benefactors. Sam Waterston, Glenn Close, Mary Beth Hurt, Simon Jones. I had to look up Simon Jones. (Saw Glenn Close many years later around Lincoln Center. Her skin did not appear to wrinkle.)

My One and Only. Tommy Tune and Twiggy. Completely forgotten until a profile of Twiggy appeared on CBS Sunday Morning. (Although it was hard to miss Tommy Tune walking down Fifth Avenue, going past the Met in white pants, pink shirt and a white sweater tied around his shoulders. That memory stayed.)

My Fat Friend. Lynn Redgrave, George Rose, John Lithgow. (I never remembered actors in plays I saw.  Decided to follow John Lithgow's career. He did me proud!)

Hamlet. Ralph Fiennes, Damian Lewis. (Sat across from Anthony LaPaglia who fell asleep. He was in rehearsals for another play at the time, so I am sure his demeanor was no comment on the performances. If I had realized I would in the future develop a crush on Damian Lewis, I might have paid more attention.)

Hamlet. Richard Burton. Special broadcast for schools. Kind of cheating. Not in person but I'd seen him elsewhere with Liz Taylor.

Waiting for Godot. Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Billy Crudup.  For the first time ever in a theater, I could hear every word - at least those Stewart and McKellen said. Every single word. Couldn't understand Crudup at all. Watched Crudup later in The Morning Show. He is such a subtle actor. He would never have to move anything other than his eyes. Fantastic.

Rent. In Chicago. Made an exception to "no musical" rule.

Cats. DC. The play was far from new. Betty Buckley was long gone from the cast, but I did see her on the way into Elaine's one night. She was on her way into Elaine's. I was eating next door.

42nd Street. Think I missed Jerry Orbach but used to see him around my neighborhood a lot when he was filming Law & Order. As I recall, Jason Alexander was in it.

Timon of Athens.  Part of subscription to Tony Randall's theater. No idea what else I saw or who was in them.

Aspects of Love. Stayed until the end but walked out vowing I would never see another Broadway musical. 

Les Miserables. I would make an exception and see this musical over and over again.

Camelot.  Philadelphia's Playhouse in the Park. Rock Hudson.

Half a Sixpence - Tommy Steele

London's West End. No idea what I saw. Remember Patrick McNee and Jenny Agutter. Maybe in the same play. It was bad although it wasn't the actors' fault. I should have gone to see The Mousetrap at some point. I‘ve had enough opportunities.

Art. Albert Finney. Tom Courtenay. Ken Stott. Had to look up Ken Stott.

Bob Hoskins. This is a mystery. I thought I identified the play, but I contacted the playwright and he said it had never been done in London. I know I did not imagine this but I cannot find any mention of Bob Hoskins in a play with two characters. The entire play takes place in Freud's office or someone else's. I really liked the rug. That's how I know I could not have made this up.

The Best of Friends - John Gielgud. Since I recall seeing John Gielgud the last night he was on stage in London, I must have seen this play.

A Chorus Line   On Broadway. No idea what cast.

Mary, Mary.  Pretty sure I saw it on a high school trip, Was Barry Nelson in it or do I think that because I passed him at the 1964 World's Fair? He was eating an ice cream cone or possibly a Belgian waffle. At the World's Fair, not on stage.

Three Sisters.  In London. Lots of Redgraves. Vanessa, Lynn and Gemma.

Sleuth. No idea who was in it. Now I can only remember the movie.

Dreamgirls. No idea who was in it but I would bet Vondie Curtis-Hall because he was always on my radar. That might be how he got there. I recall noticing him next to me in a New York restaurant at Denzel Washington's table.

Song and Dance. Remembered Bernadette Peters singing Unexpected Song but nothing else.

Equus. No idea who was in it.

Something about Elvis in London.

I hope to update this page as memories pop up. Three Sisters was a recent addition.

Adding October 2022:

Man of La Mancha. Raul Julia (Anthony Quinn in audience)

Dracula. Frank Langella?  Raul Julia? Both?

 

A Man for All Seasons Paul Scofield

Remembering the Lists of My Life: Beautiful Sights

Decades ago I made a list of the ten most beautiful sights I had ever seen. They were so impressive that even though the list got lost, I was, over a few days, able to reconstruct it. I posted them on Facebook one-a-day for ten days starting on 9/2/2021 but in no particular order.

Below is the list starting with my first post on 9/2/2021.

1:

I once made a list of the ten most beautiful sights I had ever seen. We didn’t have cameras in our phones so I had to take a mental snapshot of moments when the locale, the weather and the lighting came together to create an unforgettable image. No exotic location was required. The first I remember was out my kitchen window when I lived in Connecticut. The sky was clear, the leaves were off the trees and there was a light coating of snow on the ground. The full moon made the white birch tree with a double trunk glow. I don’t think a camera could have done the scene justice.

2:

Item two on my list of the ten most beautiful sights I have ever seen. (In no particular order.) In my mind, I think the train stopped but, in fact, I think I just snapped a mental picture. On a train from Oslo to Bergen, Norway. I guess above the tree line. Wide, gradual and snow-covered hill climbing to a gray sky. Not a mark on the snow. Near the hilltop a gray fence also climbing at an angle an artist might choose. Monotone except for the dot of red. A skier standing by the fence. A minute later and the smooth surface of the untouched snow would be gone. But, I got my mental snapshot. Better, I suspect, than an actual photo.

3:

Item three on my list of the ten most beautiful sights I have ever seen. (In no particular order.) This one is easy to visualize and probably should be a video (not photo) memory. Lightning bolts in the desert outside Tucson on a dark night. Why I was driving on a back road outside of Tucson late at night, I have no idea.

4:

A lot of people say they’ve experienced number 4 on my list of the ten most beautiful things I’ve ever seen, but I was close to fifty when I stepped into a clear, moonless night on St Agnes, one of the Isles of Scilly, and was stopped dead in my tracks by the sight of the night sky. I’d watched the sky from islands along the US’s East Coast and deserts in the West, but I never had a glimmer of what I saw that night. I stopped dead, grabbed my friend’s arm and exclaimed (I don’t usually exclaim) “Oh My God!” I hope to see this sight again if I can visit the islands 28 miles off the SW tip of England in the right part of the lunar cycle and catch a clear night. I don’t remember anything else in my life stopping me dead in my tracks.

5:

I am still working through my list of the most beautiful sights I’ve ever seen. Day 5, sight 5. I posted about this one before on tax day. Leona Helmsley was ordered to start her prison term for tax evasion on April 15, 1992. Her husband, Harry, owner of the Empire State Building, protested by keeping the lights on the building dark. Lit only by the light of an almost-full moon, the building looked gorgeous - especially to anyone walking east on 33rd Street to get their taxes to the main post office before midnight. That’s what I heard!

6:

Number 6 on my list of ten most beautiful sights (in no particular order). This one is different because I’ve seen it more than once - mostly when driving southwest on interstates between Boston and Philadelphia. The pitch-black silhouettes of leafless trees against a bright pink sky at sunset. When I was into needlework, I saw a lot of patterns honoring this phenomenon but none of them did the sight justice.

7:

Day 7. Sight 7. PA 23 runs through Valley Forge Park. Going east you go through the woody, hilly part. Then, the road runs along a ridge with hills sloping off to the right. I never realized that I was looking at a series of valleys until early one morning when a heavy mist wove its way through them. It was like looking down at the clouds. I’ve driven that road more times than I can count but I never saw anything like that sight again.

8:

Beautiful sight number 8. I have no idea why I was in London in April, but a street of white Victorian townhouses in Kensington that I had walked down many times in winter was transformed by trees covered with white flowers. Most of the petals were still on the branches but enough had fallen that they laid a white carpet down the sidewalk. Then, a gentle breeze created a shower of white petals. The pink and purple blooms on other blocks were gorgeous but the white wonderland was magical.

9:

Sight 9. A great view of the New York skyline provided the only compensation for hundreds of hours on the New Jersey Turnpike. No view was better than one I caught on a day sometime between 1973 and 2001 when I was driving south at sunset and the twin towers of the World Trade center, painted an orangish-gold by the setting sun, shone against the blue sky. Valerie Silver Ellis, a former colleague I quote often, usually when talking about advice I should have followed, was 46 years old when she went to work on the 104th floor of the North Tower on a Tuesday morning like any other twenty years ago today. The memory of the beautiful vision from the turnpike is bittersweet.

10:

Beautiful Sight 10 of 10. The novel, The Ice Storm, was set on a road I lived on in Connecticut but I don’t recall ever experiencing an ice storm there. The one I recall was near my parents’ last home in Pennsylvania. The road at the end of our street curved past a big stone house sitting back on a wide lawn crossed by a stream split into two sections by a waterfall. And, trees. Lots and lots of trees. When the ice storm hit, the lawn turned silver, the waterfall froze and the trees were coated with ice that sparkled in the sunlight. From what I can see on a drive-by, everything is now gone.

In thinking over the decades since I made the list, I could only think of one sight I would add to the list.  I always thought that those photos of huge moons hanging over a scene such as the New York skyline were fake, products of Photoshop. However, one night on a New Jersey Transit train leaving New York, I looked out the window and realized they were real. An unbelievably big moon had just climbed into view over New York. The sight was not fake.

I've had a long dry spell without seeing unforgettable sights. I am not sure the problem is a change in my travel or in my vision. I need to get out and about and hope that I am lucky to encounter more unforgettable moments and wise enough to see them when I do.

© 2021 Jane Kelly

Fifty by my fifties - states that is

I always knew that I would get to all fifty states. I might not have been born to travel but I was definitely raised to.

I come from a family that celebrated the first hotel room I ever stayed in as the first step in one of the great accomplishments of my life. (For the record it was Room 1410 at the Claridge Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey.) I did not record all subsequent room numbers or even hotels. But this story is not about hotels. This is about states.

For many years of my life, I had only been to mid-Atlantic states. I lived in Pennsylvania, went to the New Jersey Shore for the summer, and took day trips to New York. The first time I flew, my mother took me to Washington DC--not a state. I really got off to a slow start. Delaware to visit my parents' friends in Wilmington and to take a ride when they opened the Cape May Lewes Ferry. I was heading off to college and had been to a measly four states and one capital district.

I didn't start racking up my state count until, at the age of 21, I got my own car. I added Connecticut visiting friends but I was still only driving through New Jersey and New York to get there. (5) Several drives to visit my brother who lived in Marco Island Florida netted me Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. Things were picking up, but only along I-95. (11) Then, I drove to Arizona, adding eight more. Ohio. Indiana. Illinois. Iowa. Nebraska. Colorado. New Mexico. Arizona. (19) And, I took side trips to California and Nevada. (21) Inexplicably, I returned to Pennsylvania via the same route along Route 80 losing the opportunity to add all the I70 states. I don't know what I was thinking.

When my brother moved to New England I netted Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire. (25) I was halfway there. Maine remained elusive for many more years although I was often within an hour of its border. I'd like to know why I took my eye off the ball.

Sometime during that time I flew to Hawaii on vacation and started acquiring the second half of the states. (26)

A cross-country drive with a friend in 1975 filled in some gaps. Oddly, Utah and Missouri. How we missed Kansas, I don't know. But we did, leaving me with (28) and some hard-to-fill gaps in my state count.

Heavy-duty acquisitions started in 1980 with a job as a traveling trainer. My territory was the southern US. Suddenly, I was adding states to my list every week. Texas. Oklahoma. Louisiana. Alabama. Mississippi. Tennessee. Kentucky (and not just because the Cincinnati airport is in Kentucky). I did not get to go to West Virginia but a couple of day trips from my home in Washington DC resolved that issue. (36) But others remained.

The challenging thing about Michigan is that it is not on the way to other states. Michigan became my 37th state with a plane trip to Kalamazoo for a conference. I've been back to Detroit but, despite driving by it many times, I have never actually driven into Michigan.

Conferences were a boon to raising my total. Even a meeting in Winnepeg Manitoba helped. Three of us state-seekers rented a car and drove south to have dinner in Minnesota and after-dinner drinks in North Dakota. After a previous conference in Chicago, a couple of us figured we were so close to South Dakota why not take a short flight and hop on over? We rented a car and took a drive that got me not only South Dakota, but Wyoming and Montana. (42)

During this time Eastern Airlines introduced an unlimited travel fare. You could fly anywhere for three weeks but you couldn't go home. This led to conversations in the hotel van at the Atlanta airport (the Eastern hub) that sounded like this. I had a meeting in Denver on Friday and I have to be in Albuquerque on Monday, so I thought I'd go to Bermuda for the weekend.

I used that pass to pick up Washington State (43) but mainly I used it to visit friends. Again, with 7 states still in play, what was I thinking?

You would think I would get Washington and Oregon at the same time, but no. I met a friend in Oregon on a separate trip. Not sure how I got there but most likely courtesy of Eastern Airlines. (44)

Desperate to get Kansas, I once drove from Denver about fifty miles into the state, went through a drive-thru restaurant and drove back. Later I questioned if this was a legitimate score. My feet hadn't touched the ground. At a conference a few years later in Kansas City, Missouri, I located another state-seeker and we drove into Kansas City, Kansas for dinner and a thorough tour of the city. (45)

I cannot recall the first time I got Wisconsin. I spent a year in Chicago, so I can't imagine I didn't go to a state that was within commuting distance. I simply can't recall but I definitely remember going to the MLB All-Star Game there in 2002. However, I am sure it was not my first visit. It's coming to me. I had visited friends there before. Perhaps back in the Eastern Airlines days. All is a bit hazy but I know I stayed overnight. (46)

I know Arkansas was my forty-seventh state (47) because I recall sending a postcard that said simply 47. I could have gotten the state much sooner if I had realized all I had to do was drive across the river from Memphis, but I didn't. So, I used a Frequent Flyer. I had originally planned to use the award to go to Maui, but a reorganization came up at work and I asked my boss if he thought I should cancel. He did. So, I changed my flight to Little Rock. I spent a Sunday there. Tip: if you are going to spend one day in Little Rock, Sunday is probably not the best day. I drove around the state but not much was going on. Reference sign in a restaurant window: Saturday Brunch. (The frightening part of this trip was on the flight when the pilot announced that there was fog in Little Rock and that we would be landing in Shreveport. LOUSIANA. I had Louisiana. Luckily the fog lifted.)

I had been so close to Maine, so often but never really understood how close. Good grief, I even lived close. So, one day a group of us took a drive from my brother's house to southern Maine.  Maine never should have been so close to the end. (48)

Years went by and Alaska and Idaho eluded me. Finally, I decided I had to take extreme measures to get them--which I did on a trip to a conference in Seattle.

I thought there was great symmetry that Alaska, our forty-ninth state, was my forty-ninth state. (49) I had to fly to Seattle for a conference and somehow figured out how to add a stop in Anchorage for the same price. I stayed overnight and was awake most of it because of the daylight in June. I saw a lot of the state flying in and out. I didn't feel cheated.

My brother was on a ski trip during the time I was holding at forty-eight and called me repeatedly. He kept driving back and forth to resorts in Montana and Washington through Idaho. I can't seem to get out of Idaho. He knew it was one of my two remaining states.  It did not appear that I was going to go on a ski trip to Idaho, so on my trip to Seattle, I took a side trip to Boise. Whew! Finally, 50.

I've been back to most states multiple times. I have no "gets" that I feel are in any way iffy. I said I'd get to all fifty states and I did. If the District of Columbia becomes a state, I am covered. I even lived there. If Puerto Rico gets statehood that is a different matter. I should probably go now. Just in case. 

© 2021 Jane Kelly

Why I won't get to sit next to Conan O'Brien at dinner

UPDATE TO UPDATE:  The gist of my original post was that I was never going to sit next to Conan O’Brien at dinner. Wrong again! Okay, it was lunch, not dinner. And, I wasn’t actually beside him. I had my back to him. And, technically, he didn’t actually know I was there, but he knew someone was behind him checking in. But still, I found it weird to run into him in this context but not as weird as an old Conan video that popped up on my phone (I saw after lunch). Maybe because my phone heard me say “There’s Conan O’Brien.” I am used to that. Or was it because my phone knew his phone was within a six-foot radius (social distancing)? Either way. No coincidence.

UPDATE: I posted about this encounter and was surprised to find that several people felt Conan behaved like an entitled celebrity. I did not see it that way at all. I simply felt he was wandering into a public area and I was the person who alerted him. I found it funny. I felt as if my post had slimed him. I took the post down.

Conan O'Brien did his last show on TBS last week and the milestone went unnoticed on my Facebook feed. I think that is because many people of my generation do not like or get his humor. Some actively dislike him. I'll admit some of his bits make me uncomfortable (as intended I am sure) but some make me laugh out loud. 

I recall reading back in the nineties when he got the job at the Late Show that someone, perhaps Lorne Michaels, explained the choice by saying he was the guy you'd want to sit next to at dinner. 

When I heard he would be interviewed at the Kennedy Library, I signed up. I was a little disappointed to be sent to the overflow room. (My fault I lingered over dinner.) He was smart, modest and hilarious. Someone you'd want to sit next to at dinner. 

Before leaving the library, I wandered down the hallway towards the (closed) snack bar where the view of Boston Harbor is the best. At the same time, Conan wandered out of the elevator hallway. I assume to enjoy the view. Then, he spotted me. I like to think he realized he was wandering into a public area, and it was what I represented and not the sight of me that made him recoil. He reversed direction. No matter. I don't think I'll get to sit next to him at dinner.

© 2021 Jane Kelly

Juicy Fruits - what does the green mean?

They were so innocuous-looking. A young man, Caucasian, in his twenties. A middle-aged woman, African-American, in her forties. One seated to the left of me. One seated to my right. They never acknowledged each other.  Or did they?

I was spending the day in the Charlotte, North Carolina airport. I suspect I missed a connection from Charleston, West Virginia to Philadelphia. I wouldn't plan to spend six hours in the Charlotte airport.  But since I had a layover, I filled the time as I normally would. Eating.

I found a restaurant in the concourse and was seated in a row of tables for two. I sat with my back to the wall facing into the restaurant. When I arrived,  there was a young man seated at the table to my left. I am not sure how much time passed before a woman was seated at the table to my right. They in no way acknowledged each other's presence.

I noticed the man do it first. He took out a box of Juicy Fruits and pulled out a green one. He laid it on the table in front of him.

A few minutes passed, not sure how many, before the woman on my right got out her box of Juicy Fruits. She also pulled out a green one and laid it on the table in front of her. 

First, let me say, that to my knowledge, I had not been in close proximity to any box of Juicy Fruits in years, but when I had been, they had never been positioned as an appetizer. I mean, really. Who eats Juicy Fruits before a meal? Let alone, one Juicy Fruit. Let alone, one green Juicy Fruit.  Even if green, a Juicy Fruit can not be considered a salad.

The three of us ate our meals with zero interaction as far as I could tell. I do not recall if any other Juicy Fruits came into play. I didn't want to know too much (and this was before I watched The Americans). I left first and began a complete tour of the terminal looking for a Juicy Fruit promotion. Someone had to be giving away free boxes of Juicy Fruits. If they were, I couldn't find them.

I told myself I was being silly. They were probably playing an elaborate game. This was not a real brush with espionage. Or was it?  I  posted about this odd little incident on Facebook but no agents--from the good guys or the bad guys--showed up at my door. Still, I find this a little suspicious. Especially after I watched The Americans.

© 2021 Jane Kelly