Brian Fleck

So where did we leave off last week?
Oh, that’s right, Frank and I were out on a double date, and we came up short on the bill.
So what did we do?
Frank called his older sister, Sue. Even though she just put her hair up in rollers, she threw on a housecoat and brought us $5. The kindness of strangers and siblings at play.
Fast-forwarding to today, the highlight of their recent visit was attending the Beef Days parade. Frank, as it turns out, loves a parade, and rarely misses a chance to see one or better yet, be in it.

I always thought I’d write volumes when retired and had time to devote to putting fingers to keyboard, but the reality is, well, I don’t know. It keeps getting harder and more challenging for me to come up with a topic that seems new and fresh for this space. And when I do come up with an idea, the old gray cells just don’t have the same capacity to turn an idea into a story that has a common thread.
So to hell with the thread, here’s some things going on in my life of late.

“Samples!” I said out loud, to no one in particular, as I rolled my cart through the grocery store.
Getting excited and going for a free sample is something I always do, and it’s one of those times I always think of Dad.
The old man could never pass up something offered at no charge, sometimes to the point of being weird. As a kid, for example, I remember purposely parking the car on the far side of the Woodfield Mall so we would walk through Marshall Fields on our way to Sears.

When Pearl and I walk we have an understanding.
As long as she stays by my side with the leash slack, I’ll let her take a few breaks so she can stop and smell... well, anything and everything including... the roses.

One of my biggest dreads is going to the dentist and it’s for good reason.