Bebop

I realized I had been in front of my computer for four days and needed to swim, especially if I'm considering myself to be an urban mermaid. So I went. The sun was in the pool and it was quiet. My pal Bebop showed up. "Hey Bebop!!" I shouted across the pool as he went over to select red and blue foam flotation noodles. Bebop is 78 and played saxophone on weekends in lots of bands for years. We always chat about the saxophone when I see him. We stood in the water for twenty minutes. He was animated, gesturing with both arms, singing tunes and pantomiming playing his tenor sax. I noticed I had darker armpit hair than him. "Try a tune as a rhumba, fox trot, Latin, same tune just different beat. You gotta have a good drummer, then you'll fly."

One time I saw Bebop in the supermarket and he gave me a saxophone lesson in the macaroni aisle! He was tapping his foot next to his metal carriage saying count out the beats and see how long you can exhale. It's a treat for both of us whenever we bump into each other around town.

After my swim I had a craving for green vegetables. I stopped at the grocery store and looked in the bargain bin. I got the slightly beat up broccoli because it wasn't that bad, three heads for a dollar, just the stems look banged up. I'll cut most of that part off. Greens, greens, greens, I feel like a queen when I can eat lots of greens. I saw my other swim buddy in the check-out line. I couldn't help myself, I glanced in his basket. He was buying green grapes, pulpy Tropicana orange juice and a ready-made roasted chicken. How cute! He's another adorable elderly gentleman in his late 70's. I see him at the pool all the time but rarely have I seen him on dry land! I asked him how he was. He said he was in shock, that a friend of his had just died. "I opened the paper and there he was. I saw him and spoke to him just last week, and asked him how he was. He said hangin' in there, but he did look frail. He was a member of the Y for over 40 years." It must be a shocker when all your pals start to die. He said I have goggles for you in my car, and we walked out together into the late afternoon orange light. He popped open the trunk of his little blue Toyota and handed me a set of brand new Speedo goggles! He got them at the outlet store in town and had donated a bunch to the YMCA. "I saved one for you." Thanks so much I said, thinking wow, I've never been so popular.