Happy Meal (Compaq-ed) Pension helps write the ending
16-08-20 11:31 Sleepover,Grandchildren
After what seemed like an endless s t r e t c h of similar days.
“Seemed endless?” Nazy interrupts.
“Ah, you are right. Correction below.”
Trapped in the midst of an endless s t r e t c h of similar identical days, I was excited to receive an unexpected letter from Fidelity. A letter filled with…
“Exciting news!” I told Nazy. “Compaq Pensions owes us money. They want to send a check.”
“How much?” Nazy asked pragmatically.
“I don’t know. They won’t tell me because they don’t have my address.”
“How did they send you the letter?”
“That, my dear, is a very good question. When I call to demand my money, I’ll ask them.”
Calling them wasn’t as easy as I thought, but because although “my call (which would be answered in the order in which it was received) was very important” to them, my wait time, normally many weeks, was still very long. After clearing a few obstacles (my employee number and exact times I worked with Compaq), it was confirmed that they had a check for me.
“How much?” I asked, predictably.
“I can’t tell. We will send you a report by mail.” They told me.
“Why didn’t you do that in the first place?” I countered.
“We didn’t have your address.”
“Ah! But you did! That’s how I knew to call you.”
“Now that we’ve confirmed..”
“Just give me an estimate. Is this going to be enough for, say, a ‘new yacht’? Or is it more like a Happy Meal with a large order of fries?”
“I honestly don’t know..”
“Thank you,” I noted ending the conversation.
A few days later, I got an email from Fidelity: a notification of forthcoming disbursement. The mail explained that disbursements arrive because a balance has slipped below “the minimum”.
“We’ll have to go with the small fries,” I thought, aware that I would not forget a yacht.
While we await the ‘windfall’, Tiger and I have been reading “The Mouse and the Motorcycle” by Beverly Cleary. It’s a ‘chapter book’, so we read it over several days. It was time for Tiger to go home, but the book wasn’t over so..
“I know that it’s very hard to wait, Tiger,” I said. “So I can tell you how this ends.”
“Really?”
“Of course. Right now, Ralph (the mouse) has been trapped under a glass by a kindergarten teacher. I think that the teacher is going to throw Ralph into the toilet and flush him..”
“That’s a very bad ending, Dan.” Tiger interrupted.
“Oh my! How about this one: Ralph escapes from the glass, runs behind the radiator and up to the window sill. He jumps out of the window, grabs onto a twig. But…. the twig breaks and Ralph falls onto the freeway. An 18 wheeler squashes Ralph flatter than a pancake and..”
“That is very bad! I’m glad that someone else wrote this book. You don’t know how to write endings.”
“How about: As Ralph runs toward his mouse hole, an owl..”
“No Dan.”
We’ve also had time for visits with Azelle (who likes to smell the roses at Mission Park).
This week, Tiger and Arrow also joined us for a sleepover. Before dinner, I took the boys to the nearby Douglas Preserve to walk and play on some large tree trunks. We also watched Mary Poppins together.
I’m getting better at reading in a entertaining manner. Mitra and Nazy, who have artistic genes, are really good with Leandra. .
“That’s because they can draw pictures,” I thought. “And, when they’re finished, Leandra can tell what they drew.”
Fact: When Mitra was about 4, Nazy asked us both to draw a picture of a cat. Nazy couldn’t tell which of us had drawn which picture. I sometimes always tell myself that this occurred because ‘Mitra was copying me.’
Because of the covid situation, Darius, Christiane and the girls did not go to Lebanon this summer. Thus, they were in Bellingham when the disastrous explosion in the harbor occurred in Beirut. Fortunately, Christiane’s family is okay (although windows were broken.) Friends were injured and some have been missing.
And, finally, honeybees have been given home at Melika and Tom’s. The bees, popular for pollination and honey skills, are earning their keep. Presented with a couple of combs of raw honey, Nazy read about honey processing. When she suggested that we get a centrifuge (or two) I demurred.
“All the centrifuges have been bought by the Iranians to build nuclear weapons,” I explained. “After Trump, in a move of petulant ignorance and awe-inspiring stupidity, broke the nuclear treaty..”
“Why did he do that?”
“Because Obama negotiated it. And since Trump has not had any successful negotiation, he is jealous. So..”
“He’s certainly jealous of Obama.”
“Seemed endless?” Nazy interrupts.
“Ah, you are right. Correction below.”
Trapped in the midst of an endless s t r e t c h of similar identical days, I was excited to receive an unexpected letter from Fidelity. A letter filled with…
“Exciting news!” I told Nazy. “Compaq Pensions owes us money. They want to send a check.”
“How much?” Nazy asked pragmatically.
“I don’t know. They won’t tell me because they don’t have my address.”
“How did they send you the letter?”
“That, my dear, is a very good question. When I call to demand my money, I’ll ask them.”
Calling them wasn’t as easy as I thought, but because although “my call (which would be answered in the order in which it was received) was very important” to them, my wait time, normally many weeks, was still very long. After clearing a few obstacles (my employee number and exact times I worked with Compaq), it was confirmed that they had a check for me.
“How much?” I asked, predictably.
“I can’t tell. We will send you a report by mail.” They told me.
“Why didn’t you do that in the first place?” I countered.
“We didn’t have your address.”
“Ah! But you did! That’s how I knew to call you.”
“Now that we’ve confirmed..”
“Just give me an estimate. Is this going to be enough for, say, a ‘new yacht’? Or is it more like a Happy Meal with a large order of fries?”
“I honestly don’t know..”
“Thank you,” I noted ending the conversation.
A few days later, I got an email from Fidelity: a notification of forthcoming disbursement. The mail explained that disbursements arrive because a balance has slipped below “the minimum”.
“We’ll have to go with the small fries,” I thought, aware that I would not forget a yacht.
While we await the ‘windfall’, Tiger and I have been reading “The Mouse and the Motorcycle” by Beverly Cleary. It’s a ‘chapter book’, so we read it over several days. It was time for Tiger to go home, but the book wasn’t over so..
“I know that it’s very hard to wait, Tiger,” I said. “So I can tell you how this ends.”
“Really?”
“Of course. Right now, Ralph (the mouse) has been trapped under a glass by a kindergarten teacher. I think that the teacher is going to throw Ralph into the toilet and flush him..”
“That’s a very bad ending, Dan.” Tiger interrupted.
“Oh my! How about this one: Ralph escapes from the glass, runs behind the radiator and up to the window sill. He jumps out of the window, grabs onto a twig. But…. the twig breaks and Ralph falls onto the freeway. An 18 wheeler squashes Ralph flatter than a pancake and..”
“That is very bad! I’m glad that someone else wrote this book. You don’t know how to write endings.”
“How about: As Ralph runs toward his mouse hole, an owl..”
“No Dan.”
We’ve also had time for visits with Azelle (who likes to smell the roses at Mission Park).
This week, Tiger and Arrow also joined us for a sleepover. Before dinner, I took the boys to the nearby Douglas Preserve to walk and play on some large tree trunks. We also watched Mary Poppins together.
I also get to read, via Zoom, to Leandra who is in Washington State.
“I’m really glad that I learned to read,” I thought. “Thank you Mrs. Reddish” [Mrs. Reddish was (my first grade teacher in Savannah.]
I’m getting better at reading in a entertaining manner. Mitra and Nazy, who have artistic genes, are really good with Leandra. .
“That’s because they can draw pictures,” I thought. “And, when they’re finished, Leandra can tell what they drew.”
Fact: When Mitra was about 4, Nazy asked us both to draw a picture of a cat. Nazy couldn’t tell which of us had drawn which picture. I sometimes always tell myself that this occurred because ‘Mitra was copying me.’
Because of the covid situation, Darius, Christiane and the girls did not go to Lebanon this summer. Thus, they were in Bellingham when the disastrous explosion in the harbor occurred in Beirut. Fortunately, Christiane’s family is okay (although windows were broken.) Friends were injured and some have been missing.
And, finally, honeybees have been given home at Melika and Tom’s. The bees, popular for pollination and honey skills, are earning their keep. Presented with a couple of combs of raw honey, Nazy read about honey processing. When she suggested that we get a centrifuge (or two) I demurred.
“All the centrifuges have been bought by the Iranians to build nuclear weapons,” I explained. “After Trump, in a move of petulant ignorance and awe-inspiring stupidity, broke the nuclear treaty..”
“Why did he do that?”
“Because Obama negotiated it. And since Trump has not had any successful negotiation, he is jealous. So..”
“He’s certainly jealous of Obama.”
“As he should be.”
For last week's letter, please click here
Arrow, Nazy and Tiger (Sleepover)
(Is Tiger awake?)
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