Our previous speaking engagement at an "assisted living" facility was an "eye-opener." About fifty elderly ladies and one elderly gentleman came to hear Rosezelle and myself do our readings, and seated themselves,...waiting to be entertained.

Rosezelle had to take a "powder-room" break so I had the choice of either sitting for several moments or making conversation with the older folks. They had plenty to say!! I saw one little lady of at least eighty years with a lovely series of crocheted designs on her shirt, and I commented on them. "Oh! That tatting reminds me of the tatting of an old friend of mine,..who used to live with my family when I was a little girl!"

Innocently enough,..I asked the little elderly ladies, who were sitting not more than a foot and a half from me,.."Do the ladies here do such tatting? I gave some tatting like that to a lady I met just a few years ago because I thought that she could truly appreciate it more than certain other folks. That particular lady was an artist! Do you folks think that people, who are artistically inclined,..can better appreciate such things as beautiful needle work..more than the average person does?"

This got us stated on a group discussion as to who had contributed what to the last "fundraiser" for the activity fund but it did not lead up to a discussion of "art appreciation in the elderly!!" The scandal about how "Myrtle" had come up forty cents short with some of those funds, which were raised at said event,.was mentioned!! "Chloe" is suspected of "raiding other folks rooms for hearing aid batteries." "Lucinda" has gotten the eye of "Victor" in the dining hall and refuses to sit with his wife,.."Serapha" anymore!! "Deedee" has started a "knitting group," which everyone wants into,.but "Cassie" is not allowed into the group because her best friend is "Lucinda," the husband-stealer!!"

And that was just from the first row of little old ladies,.sitting a little less than two feet from the small table and podium from which Rosezelle and I were to speak in a few moments!! Rosezelle came back from the bathroom and noticed the commotion going on in the first row.

"I see," she commented dryly to me again,.."That you are still studying human nature!!"

"I didn't start anything!" I muttered.

However,.for the next hour and a half,..our program had some competition with the discussion of "Victor,.who shares a room with his own wife...(but horrors!!) will not sit with her in the dining room, and his paramour,..Lucinda!"

In spite of the competition from the ongoing discussion,..Rosezelle and I sold about eighty dollars worth of books!!

The one little gentleman in the crowd stopped by our table and complimented Rosezelle and I on our program,..bought a book,..and said with a sigh,.."I hope that you two ladies come again! My name is Victor,..and I hope you ladies noticed that I was sitting alone!!"