the ed report 2022

 

I had not seen Ed since December, though I talk to him often enough that I know he is suffering slippage on the space-time continuum. Every place that he has ever been, he could have been yesterday or today. He has been in Poland and Kiev recently, and is not always sure whether he is on the road or in Pennsylvania or Brooklyn or the hospital, where he has been twice recently for seizures, which, according to wife Alison, are a side effect of brain surgery. He knows he is struggling, and it makes him sad. Alison says she has never seen him so upset, even with his post-wars injuries and PTSD.

   But it makes him very happy to see his friends, and we were able to find the right time and space to track him down in Brooklyn yesterday. Barbara harkened back to her Candy Striper days and wheeled Ed to one of his fave restaurants, Mazzat. Good food cooked by owner Jimmy, who is originally from Egypt.

Ed can sort of hobble, but he can barely see, so getting around is difficult. He kept thinking Barb was speeding! In our four decades of friendship, Ed and I must have had lunch together hundreds of times, including when we were no longer coworkers. Usually they lasted more than three hours, and he had more than a beer and a half and ate more than a bite of hamburger. Barb and I did our part yesterday with the humuus and bacon-wrapped dates and fried cauliflower and shrimp and chicken and salad. Ed was worrying about Chien-Chi being in Ukraine without him.

   Ed may be wandering around, but he has not lost his news sense. While we were sitting outside at the cafe, a couple of unmarked police cars went by headed towards Manhattan. Then an ambulance came past, with sirens blaring, then a fire truck, siren on. "They got him," Ed said.

   The day before, a guy had shot up the subway in Brooklyn, not far away. He had not been caught, and as I got on the subway to Brooklyn, I admit to a moment's pause knowing that dude was still at large. (Notice that it's never a woman who goes crazy and shoots up places?) 

   Barb checked her phone. Yes, dude had been caught.

   "How did you know?" we kept asking Ed. He said well, after such an event the day before no emergency service vehicle or police car would have sirens blaring otherwise. I mean, he was a cop for a time.

    But that didn't adequately explain it to us.

    He just has a feel for the news.

So grateful to Alison for arranging this visit. It was terrible and wonderful at the same time.