Posted by Alan on August 25, 19100 at 03:56:29:
In Reply to: in sympathy posted by CAP on August 23, 19100 at 20:33:51:
Thank you, gentlemen, for your kind display of affection.
A word of explanation: the weekend after our reunion, my family hosted a lavish 90th birthday party for my grandfather. Ten days later, my brother called me at work to tell me that very same grandfather had died, and I immediately flew back to Hastings yet again.
Well, you can imagine how much it meant to my family to have the chance to celebrate with Grandpa Ben (or Benji Boy as my little nieces call him) one last time before his passing.
Those of you who knew my father's father knew he was the "pharmacist to the mob" so to speak. Wise Guys took him on all-expense-paid Vegas trips so he could take care of their ailments. (Junior and senior year in high school, he started taking me along.)
Since my grandfather had been a fine gambler in his own right, my dad suggested -- half kidding -- that we put a deck of cards in the coffin.
I smiled tearfully. "I'll be right back," I said, and shot out of the funeral home in search of a convenience store.
Finding a market a short distance away, I asked the clerk if they sold playing cards.
"Sure," he said, pointing to packs on display. "Red or blue?"
"I don't know," I said. "What color do you PUT in a coffin?"
I laughed to myself, glad to still have a sense of humor.
But the clerk was a New Yorker, and didn't know I was being funny.
"Blue," he said.
* * * * * * * * *
PS. My grandfather was buried with a spade royal straight flush, ace high.
And the backs of the cards were blue.