Bert

He parks in the handicap space, gets out very slowly and, without a cane, proceeds to walk toward the door at McDonald's. It takes him a long time to get there because he has one side of his body that does not respond. He pivots on his stiff leg and moves his other leg ahead. To begin, he starts out by leaning against the car, then touches the fence, then the building and eventually, with great difficulty, he opens the door. Most times someone else will open the door for him realizing his extreme distress. He moves slowly to the counter to order, pulls out his wallet and holding it with one hand, and with the same hand, pulls out some bills for payment. He cannot carry a tray, so a counter employee will carry the tray for him. Sometimes the tray gets to the table before he does. He is a pleasant man, uncomplaining, quick smile and also quick to laugh at himself. He recently had two operations on his left eye and he still cannot see out of it. The operations were important because his right eye has very poor sight. The top of his head is bald, his nose is bulbous, his skin rough and he has lost all his teeth. He enjoys our discussions and does participate, however, while putting his point of view forward there are times when he stops in mid-sentence and announces: "I don't remember what I was going to say." When reminded about the topic he is able to continue with his comment. His voice is halting as he mentally tries to formulate what he is going to say. We find it funny that there are times when we are anxiously awaiting for his slow, halting comment and he announces: "I don't remember." He always joins in the laughter, never taking it as laughing at him in a belittling way, but that he has contributed to the general merriment. Bert was in the Air Force and, as he tells it, flew airplanes. He never left the ground but would taxi them from one place to another. Yes, he got flight pay for moving the plane. He was attached to the "Strategic Air Command" and worked on planes for General Curtis LeMay. Later, as a civilian, he worked for the Air Force as a contractor in Greenland. He worked on the DEW Line. While there, his off time was devoted to scuba diving. (Yep, in the cold water.) He says he explored the coral reefs off Greenland. I did not know there were coral reefs there. He has coral and pictures to prove it. The coral is unlike the coral off the Florida coast, very weird shapes and formations. Bert invited us over to his house, he has ten acres off State Road 209. The state of repair of his 1950's style house can only be described as having extreme neglect. Inside, it is very cluttered because Bert is a collector. Collections include: corals, old coins, photo albums, toy cars, toy trains, dolls, numbered print collection, signed photos of the original astronauts (Bert was chief maintenance on one of the capsules.) some with him in the picture, original oil paintings of clowns by different artists, sets of books on myriad topics, old watches, various gold items, various brass items, etc. He still has his cold water diving suit, underwater camera, and equipment. We have been concerned about his driving even though he only drives in the daytime. He informed us that he could not pass a driver exam anymore. So, he sent away for his license to be mailed to him and they did so. He gets to McDonald's after we do so, thankfully, we are not on the road when he is. We all leave before he does, so again we are not exposed. We all value him as a friend.