Have you ever been just living life easily, and somebody brings up a subject that immediately takes you back to a specific point in your life? Happens to me quite frequently, and it always is the same thought that comes up – depending on the subject. I find this somewhat amazing as at my age I have a lot of thoughts banked. Apparently, there is a small standby button in your head that switches on at the appropriate time.
For example when someone mentions a dream they have just had, my mind goes back to the only dream I really remember in totality, and it occurred when I was five years old. We were living in Morgantown, WV at the time and in the dream I am on the sidewalk in front of our house talking to a friend named, Rudy. He leaves, and I walk down the sidewalk to the corner. Then, just as I turn the corner a tiger leaps at me – and I wake up. Why I had a dream like that is beyond me, unless I was afraid of tigers for some reason. On the other hand perhaps the dream was warning me that as I went through life I would never really know what was around the corner! There never has been a tiger though.
Then there are operations which often are a part of discussions particularly in The Villages. In this case the mind switch only takes me back to when I was six. By that time we were living just outside of Pittsburgh. I developed extremely painful earaches, and the doctor determined that I would need was to have my tonsils yanked. Today, they would most not likely consider that as an option. Now, they seem to like to maintain tonsils in their original location. However, the doctor back then was apparently on to something as after the operation I had no more earaches.
While getting rid of the earaches was great, that is not the real reason I recall the operation. When you are six years old, you are not certain what is going to occur. My parents bought a little book for kids which explained what happened when you went to the hospital to have tonsils removed. The part I concentrated on was after it was over because the book indicated that I would get a nice bowl of ice cream. We didn’t have much money back then so ice cream was a real treat. When I woke up my throat was sore as heck, and I waited for that ice cream. Now can you imagine what that stupid Pittsburgh hospital brought in for me to eat? They brought toast! I never did get any ice cream.
Now when some of the guys talk about comic books my ears pick up as I read tons of them as a youngster. The only story I remember in detail was one in a sci-fi comic book. It started with a guy being told by his girlfriend, Alice that she was going to marry someone else. He walks dejectedly into town and notices people boarding a bus. He doesn’t know where it is going, but he does not care. Since this is a sci-fi story the bus takes him into the future. He wanders around the future city and notices a store that says “Wives” on it.
He went in and the salesperson asked him if he wanted a normal wife or a perfect one. He decided on the perfect one, and she gave him a big box. He got back on the bus which took him back to his time. He then poured the contents of the box into a bathtub and filled it with water as the directions prescribe. Soon he hears a voice and he finds this beautiful women.nThey marry, and at a party Alice’s husband sidles up to him and says “Where did you find her? Alice has developed into a real shrew.”
Now this was not a “happily ever after” story. One day she went into town and got on the bus, but she does not come back. The husband is frantic because he can no longer find the bus. Did she ever return? No, she never returned, and her fate is still unknown! I am still wondering.
However, one thing I did learn from the story. I tell The Blonde in the house that she is not to get on a bus unless I am with her!
Barry Evans writes about Life in The Villages for Villages-News.com
