DO I KNOW YOU?

Twenty-eight years ago (I remember it well), when I still lived in Atlanta, I was about to enter the doors at Lenox Mall, when I heard a man’s voice shouting, “Esther! Esther!” I turned around and saw a man jogging toward me. He had just emerged from the American Airlines Kiosk.
Smiling, he enfolded me in a bone-crushing hug, and said, “It’s been years. It’s so good to see you.”

After he let me go, I looked at his joy-filled face and said, “It’s good to see you too,” but I had absolutely no idea who he was. As far as I knew, I had never seen him before. However, with that effusive greeting, how could I say, “Who, in the Hell are you?” I guessed that perhaps he was one of my friend’s discarded husbands. Maybe, he was taller than I remembered, but I couldn’t say, “My, how you have grown!”

While I was pondering my next move, he said, “How are Warren (my husband) and Josh?”(my son), and I said, “They are just fine.” Now, hoping to get a clue about a name I recognized, I said, “And, how’s the family?” I figured everyone has a family. No clue there because he said, “Just fine.”

Then I tried, “So, what are you up to these days?” He responded, “You know— This and That.” At that point, I figured, if this dull man wasn’t a discarded husband, he obviously  should be.

“Well,”I said,”It’s really been something seeing you. Got to run,” and I did!

I have a very good memory for faces, even if I forget a name, but this time I did draw a blank. It only happened to me one more time, but this one was understandable.

Here in Tucson, last year, a woman’s voice trilled across a store, “Esther!  Esther!” “Look over here.  Here I am!”  Sure enough, she was there, but I did not recognize her.  However, she greeted me by saying,”I’ll bet you don’t know who I am.” I said, “I’m not sure, but I kind of recognize your voice.”  She said, “I was your neighbor 25 years ago, but I had a face lift, and a nose job after I moved.” Her hair was a different vibrant color, and she told me that she had lost 100 pounds.  Then I said, “I remember who you used to be,” and I did. I remembered the day she was sitting in a tree in my back yard, looking for her lost bird. How could I forget!

The guy in Atlanta? I’m still not sure who he was, but I do think that he was one of my friend’s former husbands. But, I must admit, that after number FOUR, they all started looking alike.

Esther Blumenfeld