On May 22, 12:55 pm, "MJB" > wrote:
> "Chatty Cathy" > wrote in message
> Okay, I'll bite.
>
> True story 1): I'm walking down the street in Portland, OR, about six
> months after after Sept, 11th.

Those are all great stories, MJB. Here's one of mine, from late '80s.

I was walking around my neighborhood in the Greenwood district of
Seattle and saw a new restaurant (actually an eatery, my favorite kind
of place) that described itself as an Indian-Pakistani place.

I went in and asked where they were from, and they said they were from
Pakistan, but no one here knows about that. I said I did because I had
worked there in the '60s. So they invited me in and I asked for
several of my old favorite dishes, in Urdu.

They weren't very busy just then, so the two owners and I had a great
time talking about their home place and where I had been in their
country. Turned out, I had been more places in Pakistan then either of
them had been.

Early in my meal, one of the partners went back to the kitchen and
brought out a hot plate so my food could stay warm while we talked.

One of my great memories.

David