Two of my four sisters live in London, Ontario, Canada. They are older than me and treat me like a baby brother which suits me perfectly.
Two years ago, when I turned 60, one of my London sisters showed up at our home on a Friday night with delicious pizzas for us all. The other sister sent me a card with $60 in it – a dollar for each year. She does this with a lot of family birthdays. Can’t wait till I’m 100.
When I saw the $60, I got a brainwave and rushed to the phone. I invited her to see a movie with me and told her we’d blow the whole lot on it. There wasn’t enough there to pay for both sisters and I felt a little guilty so decided to fly under the radar with my plan and not tell the other sister.
The day came and I drove to London to pick up my movie-going sister. It was something we’ve never done together and was kind of exciting, except that I still felt guilty about my other sister. I showed up early at my sister’s home but she was ready and came right out to the van. We drove to a mall that has a beautiful theatre – fireplace, bar, a table beside each seat. Wow! Easy to get rid of $60 there.
When I got to the parking lot, I drove around a bit to find a good place to park. The lot was practically empty. I have this quirk about parking in an empty lot. I like to find another car and park next to that one, for some reason, maybe safety in numbers. So, I saw a grey sedan whose owner was just getting out. I pulled up beside the car, looked out my window and almost fainted. Standing beside her car was my other sister. The one who wasn’t supposed to know about my stepping out with the sister who at that moment was sitting in my van.
The left-out sister was kind of shocked to see us there, and I dribbled out a pitiful explanation, ending with, “Hey, do you want to come see the movie with us?” She didn’t want to but has a great sense of humour and laughed about it all.
Now, here’s the thing. There are 400,000 people living in London. There are probably eight big shopping malls in the city, most of them with theatres. How did we happen to choose the same mall where our other sister was going that day? And we arrived early. Had I picked up my sister at the time we had agreed on, we would have been safely in the theatre with my other sister none the wiser. And there were other cars in the lot I could have parked beside. This defies all odds.
I remain baffled to this day.
©2013 Jim Hagarty
