Conversations-3

I was leaning against the railing at Costco, waiting for my friends to show up.  We had just played a game of ultimate frisbee, and a few of us decided to head to lunch.  I was the first one to get there, and finally saw Yolanda heading toward me. "I don't know where anyone else is..." I started to say, but she had this confused look on her face and pointed behind me.  I turned around.  Dennis and Kelvin were standing right behind me on the other side of the railing, I hadn't noticed their approach.  "Oh my gosh!" I said, "You guys scared me!"

"You mean you didn't know we were here?" Kelvin asked.

"No," I said.  "You guys could have really scared me."

Everyone laughed.  We got in line and started ordering food.  I love Costco food.  It is so cheap.  You can get a hot dog and drink for $1.50 plus tax.

"We are sitting over there," Kelvin told me, and pointed me in the right direction.  I walked over to where Dennis was sitting. 

"Is anyone sitting here?" I asked Dennis.

"No, you can sit there," he told me. I put my polish and drink on the table and sat down.

Kelvin and Yolanda arrived at the table with a couple of chicken bakes and sat down with us.

"Are you feeling better, Yolanda?" I asked.  I knew she had been feeling badly over the past week.  She had been sick since the previous Monday. 

"Yeah, but I may still take Monday off," she stated.  "I'm working in pediatrics, and parents  don't really like it when you show up sick."  Yolanda just finished med school and started her residency last month.

"I got sick over the fourth of July," I told her, "It was horrible.  I knew there were all kinds of things going on, and all I could do was stay home and sleep.  I was so bummed."

Yolanda agreed, "That would be a bummer."

There was a lull in the conversation.

"How long were you guys behind me at the railing?" I asked the group.

Kelvin told me, "Well, Dennis was there, but I was only behind you for about 30 seconds."

"Good," I said, "That makes me feel better.  If you had tried to scare me from behind, I probably would have elbowed you."

"Yeah," Kelvin agreed, "but then you probably would have hit the bar."

"That would have hurt," I told him.  I thought about my instinctive elbow response...

I asked Yolanda, "Do you have any siblings?"

"No," she stated.  "It's just me."

"And you Kelvin?" I asked.

"I have two brothers," he stated.

"Really..."I was surprised, "You are remarkably mellow for having two brothers."

Yolanda jumped in, "Well, you must have had a strong female influence in your life, like your mom, or your Grandma."

"My grandma," Kelvin said, "I was so scared of her growing up."

"I'll bet you were her favorite," I guessed. 

"Yeah," he smiled.  "I think my youngest brother is my mom's favorite.  He's so spoiled."

"I'm always the favorite," Yolanda said, "Cause its just me."  We laughed.

"Interesting..."  I said.  Kelvin and Yolanda had been dating for about four months.

Dennis jumped into the conversation, "Yeah I can tell you guys are dating... cause you've been wearing funny shirts," he had directed that comment to Yolanda.  Kelvin is always wearing shirts with funny messages.  "Like the monkey shirt."  Yolanda was wearing a monkey shirt, but that's not what Dennis was talking about.

I had to ask, "What's the monkey shirt?"

Kelvin started grinning.  "Well," he started, "It has a monkey sitting on a toilet, thinking."

Yolanda added, "And there's a toilet with steam coming out of it on the sleeve."

I started to shake my head.

Kelvin assumed a comical defensive tone, "What?  What's wrong with that? At least it doesn't have holes in it."  We all laughed.

"Yeah, why do guys always have holes in their shirts?" Yolanda asked. 

The boys got defensive, "No we don't!" they said in unison.

"Yes you do," she said.

"Well," I said, "Girls are always buying new shirts, where the boys always hold onto theirs for a really long time."

"I think that's true," Kelvin said.  "I still have shirts from high school."

"Me too," Dennis said.

"I have a sweatshirt from high school." I added.  It's from my freshman year and says, 'Glendora Varsity Swimming' on it."

"I bet its all broken in though," Yolanda stated.

"Yeah, except when I wear it, people think I'm in high school."  Everyone laughed.

"There aren't holes in my shirt!" Dennis had lifted his arm and was examining his underarm. 

"Dennis!" Yolanda was right next to his pit and started scooting over cause we had just played frisbee for 90 minutes, and we were all sweaty.

He started laughing and scooted toward her.  "Talk to the pit!" he said.

"Ewwww! Gross! It's a good thing I'm congested," she told him.  Kelvin and I laughed at their antics.

"You know what," I stated, "That would be a funny T-shirt.  Just put 'talk to the pit' under the arm."

"Hey," Dennis agreed, "That would be funny!"

"Let's market it!" I said.

Dennis started tugging Yolanda's hair.  Kelvin made an observation, "Have you ever noticed that everything always comes back to kindergarten?"

"Yeah," I agreed, "Like sharing...and cooties..."

"And boys bothering the girls cause they don't know how to talk to them..." Yolanda added.

"Yeah, like this..." I started poking Kelvin.  Dennis was tickling Yolanda...

"Is that how you two got together?" I asked Kelvin, "You just annoyed her until she said yes?"

"No," he said.  Yolanda laughed.  "Dennis, stop!"

Dennis stopped tickling Yolanda.  "I can't wait to see what happens when Dennis falls in love," she stated.

We all thought that was pretty funny cause he has the tendancy to goof off a lot.

"Well," I said, "I need to go."

There was a chorus of "Me too!"

We all said our goodbyes and went our separate ways.  We would see each other again soon.  After all, it was only Saturday afternoon.