Not much new happens to me these days. I don’t really mind that. As I get older, no news is good news, I suppose. Especially from the doctor.
But that changed yesterday as I was surveying the delicacies at a burger joint with my friend Patrick, trying to decide on some special menu items, when the server behind the counter asked me if I would like a Senior Coke.
I was a little startled, to be honest, and asked him to repeat the question in case I hadn’t heard him right. Is that a Coke that’s been sitting around for 60 years? Or is it a Coke that is served by a senior named Orville who is kept in the back for just such a person as me?
What, I wondered, is the difference between a Senior and a Junior Coke? Do Junior Cokes have cartoons of dinosaurs on the glasses and Senior Cokes are those that are served to dinosaurs wearing Coke-bottle glasses?
I decided to take a chance and go for it. I looked at the items being rung in on the mini-tv screen on the back of the till facing me and I saw that the Senior Coke was entered at no charge. I am not sure why I didn’t also qualify for a Senior Burger and Senior Fries, but this is a good start.
This senior business is starting to pay off. Already the cashiers at the grocery stores are bagging my groceries for me sometimes. I guess I look frail or something. Not skinny, just frail.
Sort of like a Senior Man. He is someone that isn’t free like a Senior Coke, but a person who has zero in his wallet.
©2011 Jim Hagarty
