This and That: A Misty Afternoon Memory.

What a delightful afternoon! Sitting in my loneliness at the Biloxi Half Shell Oyster House, imagine my surprise when this lovely young lady suddenly appeared, as if out of the blue, and said, “Sir, may I sit and have lunch with you? You look like an older version of someone I knew and loved, long long ago.” Of course I stood and said, “Yes, my dear. How kind of you to visit me in my loneliness.” She said her name was Blanche and that she was from Laurel, Mississippi. The afternoon slowly melted, time stood still, as we discussed the cosmos, theater, art, and life in general. And then, as if in dream, I looked up and she had vanished, the evocative scent of rosewater lingering in the air. All I could think to say was, “Whoever you were, I’ve always depended on the kindness of strangers…”