Like the show Cheers, that my husband has been watching re-runs of in the evenings to wind down (I placed all his single-person shooter video games into storage) everyone wants to know their troubles are all the same, why not go where everyone knows your name.
Except, they don’t know our names, except for a select few. Kiddos and parents and grandparents seek out our old dog Zoe. We have little ones that when they visit they whisper her name outside our door then get louder and louder until she rushes to the door to greet them, they’re getting older so now come over with Grandma to make silly parfaits for their family. Zoe is kind of a mascot around here, greets everyone and is present except when my husband, “The Balloon Man” twists balloons for the kids. He always has a few in his hat, jacket or backpack and is a hit for crying babies at airline gates and on planes. Zoe does not like the sound of twisting or when one pops.
One time he was practicing and took us so he wouldn’t look suspicious when little kids came up to see him. They gave him tips, we still have an envelope with $19 saved in it! One guy gave him his card and said he may contact him for his kid’s birthday. Um, my husband is a physicist and software consultant. He doesn’t do birthday parties. We just happened to be in a Mormon state at the time and he wanted me to help choose candy for all the kids who came in on Fridays to pick up Dad.
I asked him to do something more original. Next thing I knew he was ordering balloons from Sweden. His paramount endeavor was Road Runner and Wile E Coyote. We placed them in the windows. A father and daughter cycled by our place and she stopped.
Dad asked if he could see them as they were his favorite cartoon characters, Wile even had a stick of balloon “dynamite” in his hand. We gave them away and it was a treat for us to see them with those characters in their bike baskets.
I’m just Dee. My husband and dog are now famous, I just cook for folks. A famous musician ran into husband and dog a while ago and said he was sad to hear of the death of my father. How he found out, I do not know, but somebody must know my name. I water his dead dog’s tree every month. To Zoe! Dee
Cooking with Dee 