#38 of 92: Virginia and Lenny’s First Meeting (A Story)

“You see the guy over there playing Chinese Checkers with himself? That’s Lenny.” Virginia nodded. Before the woman at the front desk pointed him out, there looked to be a dozen Lennys, all about the same age and in the same state of suspension from their surroundings.

Chinese Checkers Lenny wore a red plaid flannel shirt (she’d expected that, but she wasn’t sure why) over a graying t-shirt.  Completing the outfit were black sweatpants with worn out elastic (she was just guessing here) and black slip-on sneakers. Chinese Checkers Lenny hadn’t tied his own shoes in a good while.

Virginia pondered her next move. Her assignment was to meet Lenny and to establish some kind of connection with him. It sounds crazy but that’s what the instructor instructed. Learn about Alzheimer’s Disease by hanging out with Lenny. Well, not Lenny specifically. Everyone in the class, all fifteen of them, most of them older, returning students working on a gerontology certificate, had the same assignment. Everybody got assigned their own Lenny.

She’d brought along a pack of Twinkies. Who doesn’t like Twinkies, she thought, and besides wasn’t it the deal with Alzheimer’s folks that they can remember stuff from childhood but not what happened five minutes ago? She thought the Twinkies could be an icebreaker. Plus, there were two. They could split them. That would create a connection, right?

“Hi, Lenny. I’m Virginia. Would you like a Twinkie?”

Lenny turned his gaze from the music video playing on the large screen TV. It was country rock. Virginia would never think country rock would have music videos, but she was a Stones fan from way back, so what did she know. She sat in the chair next to Lenny and then right away worried that another patient – another Lenny – might return from the bathroom or wherever he went. No, she decided the seat was empty.

Virginia unwrapped the Twinkies, handing one to Lenny and then taking a bite out of the other.

“I think we’re about the same age, Lenny. Remember Twinkies? And Hostess Cupcakes? And Banana Flips?” Virginia reminisced about her square metal lunchbox which was red plaid like Lenny’s shirt. She loved that lunchbox with its little thermos with the metal arm that wrapped around it.

Lenny set the Twinkie in his lap.

“I don’t eat Twinkies from strangers,” he murmured. Then he repeated himself, “I don’t eat Twinkies from strangers!” Now he sounded irritated. He looked like he might pitch the Twinkie in the trash, so Virginia quickly grabbed it. She couldn’t very well eat it after he’d handled it, so she put it in her pocket.

“Why’d you put my Twinkie in your pocket?” Lenny asked. Virginia had no answer. She studied Lenny’s hands where a few Twinkie crumbs had fallen. She reached to brush them off. That’s when Lenny took her hand and held it like he was helping her cross the street. They sat that way, hand in hand, watching the country rock video, for an hour. When she left, Chris Stapleton was singing. By then, she knew who he was.