BorealFAREWELL POSTINGSStop TalkingDecember 9, 2024 Sunday evening is roast beef night at The Lieutenant’s Pump. It‘s the closest thing to a home cooked meal, something I haven’t had in years. I was already seated at my small table next to the bar when she walked in and took the seat closest to me. So close that I felt a need to reach out and introduce myself to a woman who reminded me of the character Constance "Connie" Tucker, played by Anne Potts in Young Sheldon. She asked if I was here for the roast beef dinner. So was she, and could she join me. I thought everything was going well until, as if out of the blue, she said: “stop talking.” I apologized and said that is why I often preferred dining alone so as not to risk boring my dinner companion. She then placed her hands palms down on the table getting ready to stand up. “Maybe I should go back to my seat at the bar,” she said. I place one hand on top of her hers. It was so nice and warm. Maybe that is how it is supposed to feel. Having not touched a woman for so long, I don’t remember. “Please stay,” I pleaded. She did and our conversation return to a more normal back and forth exchange of pleasantries. I was usually such a good listener. I realized then and there that I was behaving like a dying man who has a lot to say and only a short time say it, and I should stop that. When her phone told her that her Uber had arrived, and it was time to go, it was her who took my hand and said she hoped to see me again next week. Hope so. I took her admonition in stride; this is not something that Muhammad did. Before he was powerful enough to exact his own vengeance on those who interrupted him or criticised what he had to say, it was the god for whom he spoke who took it upon himself to do the retribution. The cruel and sadistic story of what He will do to Abu Lahab and His wife for her husband interrupting Muhammad can be found in children’s books published in Canada.
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