blog #021 >> a strange lunch

Today I had the honor of eating lunch with Daniel Boone's' daughter.
No, lie... At least that's what she claimed and she looked old enough to be telling the truth.
Anyhow, today after I finished the paper I realized (as always) "Hey, I'm really hungry." I was driving by Two Brothers on 39th and Belmont (if you've never been there it's a very good restaurant with Balkan food. Thanks Dave and Trina for telling me about it.) And decided to stop for a quick, but late lunch. Well, I walk in the door and sit down at a table to wait for the waiter when a little old lady comes in and sits down across from me. So the waiter being confused asks if we're together. Moments before I had told him it was just me for lunch today. So I shook my head no, shrugged my shoulders and whispered, "no." But the little old lady either didn't notice or ignored us and asked to order some soup. I told him it was fine and I'd pick up her soup.
And that's how I came to have lunch with Daniel Boone's daughter. She was very sociable, and quite funny but must have had Alzheimer's Disease because she had a hard time remembering anything after World War II... Which she talked about a lot. I let her do most of the talking. She lived by herself which I gathered from her story of falling out of her kitchen chair. And she was married and only had one child... I think... which I could gather no additional information on. I was trying to get her to drop a name of a relative I could call to come claim their grandma. But no luck.
Apparently she came to Portland during her "Mid-School" years from England. Which I find very likely due to her perfect manners, green eyes and light complexion. She even knew how to eat soup properly by lifting the spoon away from you. Which she didn't mention, but I did pick up on.
During World War II she worked as an "engineer" designing light-weight sleeping bags and tents for paratroopers... "who were invading Alaska?" I also learned the difference between down and feathers. She also said that Oregon is the greatest country in the United States of America. And mentioned that all a restaurant needs is a good bowl of soup. She ate hers pretty quickly.
Just before she sat down she mentioned something about Fred Myers. Which is just two bus stops down from the restaurant. That explains how she got there. So I asked her again if she was trying to get to Fred Myers. And I think she answered yes, it was a bit choppy. So, I took her to the bus stop and watched her get on the bus. As it happens traffic was bad and I got stuck behind the same bus. Fortunately I saw her after the bus had pulled off in front of Fred Myers talking to a lady with a cell phone. It seems she found a new friend. Now I just hope she makes it back home.