I CAN TELL

There once was a man who discovered that things have a way of happening.

He moved into a new apartment and was unpacking, when he came across a pair of shoes he liked. The shoes seemed to be very comfortable and his feet never got tired in them when he wore them. They were a nice brown and just needed a good shine and new shoelaces, and thought, let me get the soles replaced too.

He went out looking for a shoe repair shop and came across ‘Dominick’s Shoemaker Shop.’ “Ah!” he thought to himself: “This place is very busy, so Dominick must be a very good shoemaker!” He went into the shop and waited on line until the proprietor came to him.

“And a how may I helpa hew?” said Dominick in his broken English.

“I need new soles and shoelaces and a good shine on these.” Said the man as he handed the shoes over to Dominick.

“Eh! I tella you whata you need, I’ma the shoeman.”

"Hew coma back atuesaday!"

The man was taken aback by Dominick’s attitude but thought as long as he’s good who cares?

“You needa new soles, a newa shoelace, anda nice-a shine! Takea dis ticketa and comea back aTuesaday.”

With that the man left the shoemaker and went home and put the ticket into a draw and continued to unpack, putting things in draws and closets and getting adjusted to his new place.

About 25 years passed and it was time for the man to move to a new place, the neighborhood wasn’t the same anymore and so he started to pack and came to the drawer where he finally found the ticket. Realizing he had forgotten all about the shoes, he wondered if it was still any good after all these years, so he headed to ‘Dominick’s Shoemaker Shop’ and there stood Dominic, a lot older and stooped, alone in his shop reading the newspaper. The man gave the claim ticket to Dominic, who said: “ Atuesaday, in the halfternoona.

I mention this story because TLW (The Little Woman) asked me to do her a favor.

“Joe, can you do me a favor?”

Being the man of the house, he who wears the pants, and will not be bossed around stood up to her and said: “Yes Dear?”

“Would you go to the pharmacy and pick up a prescription for me?”

Reasserting myself, I said “Yes Dear”. You have to be firm.

“My doctor phoned in a prescription for me last week and I forgot all about it!”

Once again, I stood up to her and said: “No problem.”

Off she goes to work and after a while, off I go to the pharmacy. Being a man with great vision I pull into the parking lot of the pharmacy and notice no one is in the handicapped parking spaces. This is a good sign since that means no one will be waiting on the line to pick-up prescriptions, only the old people do that.

I step up to the counter and a young pretty gal says “Hello” and I say “TLW Del Bloggolo?”

She looks in her bin. I say: “It was phoned in about a week ago!”

“Hmmm… looking into her computer. “Can you wait, it will only take a moment?”

Under my breath I say: “Do you want me to come back next Tuesday?”