Arizona: Like Living in a Foreign Country

I was with my son on the way back from a baseball game.   The tank was on empty so I stopped the car at the gas station not far from home.  After inserting my credit card in the gas pump, I let my son watch the tank fill, and went to the convenience store door hoping to buy a lottery ticket.   The door was locked:  Be back in 15 minutes.   I returned to the car, and after the tank had filled, put the hose on the pump, put the cap on the gas tank and got ready to leave.   Out of the corner of my eye I saw a middle-aged woman tugging at the store door.   Her accent and clothes suggested she was from India.   They're gone, I said.  Be back in 15 minutes.  She was distraught.   I need gas.  What will I do.  I'd have said: be patient.   But in Arizona 15 minutes might mean an hour.  (Or drive down the block to the next gas station)  Instead I said:  Let me buy you some gas.

I walked over and pulled out my credit card.  I have money, she said, and handed me a twenty.  I took the twenty and started pumping the gas.   Then she said:   I hate Arizona!   Everyone's too laid back.  No one wants to work.   I'm from back East.   ARIZONA IS LIKE LIVING IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY!  She said angrily.

I started to giggle, and she told me to stop laughing.   The pump stopped.  The tank was full and the meter read $27.   She offered me more money.   Da nada, said I, in Arizona we like to buy people free gas.  I'm so laid back.

Full Moon Hike

McDowell Mountain Park, Arizona

The Dragon Meets Madame Chiang Kai-shek

Long ago T. V. Soong proposed to Aunt Jo, who was quite an Irish beauty in her day.  The proposal was problematic.   Aunt Jo was a devout Catholic and Soong was a Methodist.

Later Soong's sister married Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek and Soong became an influential Kuomintang politician.   Soong negotiated somewhat successfully with Stalin for support in the early days of the Sino-Japanese war.   Apparently, Stalin wasn't as tough a nut to crack as my grandmother when it came to letting her  Catholic sister marry a Methodist.

The Endless Summer

Ripp, Fallon and I went to the Hamptons one weekend and slept on the beach to catch some early morning waves. Ripp was really nearsighted, but a handsome kid without his thick glasses. My life-long friend, Fallon went to BC.  For some reason in high school he'd started affecting Dobie Gillis and Dick Cavett.   He looked out of place with the surfers, not having a baggy pair of swim trunks.  I was driving a taxi cab for the summer, making pretty decent money and spent most of my time day- dreaming about pretty girls who got into my cab and clever ways to ask them out for a drink after work.

When we woke up on the beach we were fogged in, but the waves were beautiful so we went out anyway. After riding waves for awhile, I met up with Fallon back on the beach. Where's Ripp? I thought he was with you.  I thought he was with you.  Damn. I better go back out and find him. So after paddling around for awhile, I finally catch up with Ripp somewhere in the fog. Where are you going, Ripp?  Back to the beach says Ripp. Ok, says I, but you're headed for the beach on Bermuda if you keep going in that direction. Follow me.

http://easthamptonstar.com/Books/2015827/Surfing-Life