Klecko and Ireland

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Yeah, my immune system sucks, I get it.

So back to the doctor I go.

There is something uneasy, even for me when they stick you in the little room to wait for the doctor.

However...before the doc comes in, they send the tech first.

So mine was name Lisa, and Lisa hovered over me for a bit acting like she was thinking, but really she was surveying my tattoo's.

When she asked what arm I wanted her to slip the blood pressure cup on, I chose the one w/o the Ronald Regan tattoo, afterall...it is an election year.

So now that the automated sleeve was pumping....Lisa just stared at my the other forearm that is covered with a Communist farmer, wheat stalks and the letters U.S.S.R.

 Lisa didn't say much with her mouth, but I could tell in her eyes that there were questions running in her brain.

So now I sit and wait for todays featured guest to enter, I hate waiting more than almost anything, so to kill  time I brought the essential poems of Vladimir Nobokov.

Most people know him as the guy who directed the film Lolita, but Nobokov had stated he enjoyed poetry more than novels or film.

The guy was Russian, but yet he wrote some of the most beautiful love poems you'll ever read in English.

Dude...I struggle writing in my first language, let alone my second.

Oh yeah...LOL, the guy kind of looked like Alfred Hitchcock and his other life passion was hunting butterflies.

Poets Are Lame.

Doc comes in, tells me that the odds would indacate that I just have the crud that's going around, b-u-t.....she's gonna chest X-Ray me, stick a swab on my throat, up my nose and draw blood.

Then before stepping out she says that she called in my prescription to the Walgreens on Randolph Avenue.

So now I steer the bread truck up the hill and within minutes I'm tucked back in the corner standing in line at the pharmacy.

Tick-Tock......Tick-Tock, the line just doesn't seem to move, but then I hear a woman in the front getting testy......

"I said the name was Ireland, and you're going to ask me how to spell it? didn't you ever study Europe in school? Spell it like that."

Now I start to laugh, and begin goosenecking through the crowd to spy the source of my entertainment, and to my surprise, the woman is wearing a tie died shirt with the logo of my bakery on it.

Coolio, it was the new 'Bread Heads Unite" shirt that sports little teddy bears across the chest, kinda a homage to The Grateful Dead right?

But it was weird to be at a random place and then see a minor outburst, and the person who was starring in this scene was wearing my brand.

I was digging it.

The woman had a walker thing too, as as she leaned on it, I couldn't help but notice that every finger on both of her hands contained a huge ring.

This woman had bling that would rival Mr. T.

Dude behind the counter was taken back by his customers comments, and while he was at a momentary loss for what to do......Klecko inserted himself into the scene.

Remember, I don't know this women all that well, she is an occasional Retail customer, but I scurried past the crowd, gently placed my hand on her back, and before she could turn around, I said....

"Let the baker fix this, Ireland - I-R-E-L-A-N-D!

And then she turns around, stares (remember Klecko is in street clothes) and then she smiles.....

"O-M-G...Klecko, how are you?"

Eventually we both had to wait for our drugs, so we sat next to each other in those waiting room chairs and Ms. Ireland says....

"I don't like to be that way Klecko, but I am in pain. I have worked on concrete for 41 years and this body of mine is broken down."

Then she ran through an inventory of ailments and I nodded as she stated each one.

I also loved that she referred to her self in the first person.

"Ya know Pat, I said to myself" or "It's no lie that Pat Ireland was the first female luggage handler at Northwest Airlines, and ya want to know something Klecko, it almost killed me, but I never asked for help. The guys didn't want me there, but after they realized I was proud, and I was going to buckle down, then they took me into the family. when you work blue collar......nobody wants a free loader."

I smiled, our drugs were ready, and then I told Pat Ireland that if she comes to my Oktoberfest Retail, I was gonna let her cut to the front of the line.

It's the least I could do for a woman who wears my shirt.