Clancy had some paperwork to catch up on, so I watched the Superbowl at a local bar, The Calfway House. I figured, if nothing else, it would help me meet and get to know some of the locals. If we’re going to stay in Callie, one of the things I am going to need to do is get to know people. A bar is probably not the best place to meet likeminded people, but it’s a place, which is better than watching the game at home on my TV.

One of the first people I met was a woman who seemed to be about my age. It turned out that she, like myself, had once lived in Fort Beck, Deseret. I discovered this when someone at the bar was badmouthing the state. It turned out that she was not really “about my age” at all. In fact, the more she and I talked, the older it became apparent she was. At one point, I wanted to ask “Just how old are you, lady?” Her children were out of the house (and I got the impression that they had been for some time) with one of them giving her two grandchildren. I had been under the impression that she had lived in Fort Beck during her college days, but she later said that she lived there from 1968-71, meaning that either she’s nearing sixty or I misunderstood.

I also met a patient of Clancy’s. I found this out the typical way. Basically, he found out that I moved her recently. There was all manner of good food at the Calfway and I asked him if I needed to leave money in a jar for what I ate. Apparently, feeding people (with, did I mention, good food?) is something of a Calfway tradition, and so he knew that I either didn’t live here or that I had moved here recently. So he asked what brought me to Callie, I told him my wife’s work, he asked what she did, I told him that she was a doctor at Dent Hospital, he asked her name, and lo and behold he is a patient. This has happened three or four times since I have arrived. Every conversation unfolding nearly the same way.

I also got to know another guy somewhat, who was about my age and seemed like an interesting guy. The sort of guy I was hoping to meet; the sort of guy I will be able to converse with easily in the future. As often seems to happen, I never did get the guy’s name. Neither of the other two, either (which drove Clancy crazy when she tried to remember the patient). That’ll have to be the next step. Learning their names.