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Bud Grossmann’s
Words of the Week
for the Week of
June 8, 2014
Previously unpublished fiction.
© 2014 by Bud Grossmann.
All Rights Reserved.
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Matchbooks, 2014
© 2014 by Bud Grossmann
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ON YOUR MARKS, GET SET, GO!
From: David C. Fischer <d—@juno.com>
To: Undisclosed-recipients:;
Date: Thu, 5 Jun 2014 17:13:44 -0500
Subject: Dear Mark Karlin of Palm Desert, California, formerly of Honolulu,
To minimize confusion about addresses, I am sending this to “Undisclosed Recipients.” I am writing to you, Mark Karlin, and to another Mark via bcc.
Thank you (again), Mark Karlin, for greeting me on my birthday. When I thanked you at 12:07AM California Time today, June 5, seven minutes (according to California Time) past the close of the one day this year when you and I were the same age, you may have wondered why I did not wish YOU a Happy Birthday.
That, Mark Karlin, is because #1, I forgot your birthday, and #2, I thought I was writing to Mark Spaulding, of Honolulu, whose 2014 birthday is some months in the future.
I saw your e-mail at about noon on my birthday. The “from” line said “Mark,” and the address was makmark@—(dot)com. If I had looked closely at the address, I probably would have thought, Oh, Mark Spaulding lives in Makiki and he has made up a new address. I did in fact think, How nice that Mark Spaulding has remembered my birthday, as he has so faithfully remembered for so very many years!
I was rushing about, getting my house ready for dinner guests, and I didn’t look again at your e-mail, Mark Karlin, until the wee hours of the morning (Wisconsin Time), when I hit Reply and dashed off my thank-you.
This morning, though, when I wrote to someone else, I needed to find an address in my contacts list, and there, right at the top, was a new entry, “Mark” with the “makmark” address. Usually e-mail from you comes from “markandal” and it’s marked with your husband’s name, “Albert Beckmann.” I don’t recall getting mail from plain old “Mark” before. Now that I’ve mentioned Al Beckmann, I think I must mention that Mark Spaulding was born in 1938, the same year Al Beckmann was born. I would like to tell you, also, Mark Karlin, that Mark Spaulding and my daughter Anne were both born on October the third. I seldom forget Mark Spaulding’s birthday.
Please let me tell of one last coincidence and then I’ll quit writing. Last night about a dozen folks came to my home for supper. When it was time to light my birthday candle (one little candle for my sixty-five years and your sixty-six), I found in my china closet two books of matches in an antique glass ashtray. One book features a painting of a blond lady in lots of suds in a wooden wash tub. It’s an old book, Close Cover Before Striking, never been used, gift from a friend. I chose the other matchbook, a little larger and a little newer, with only six matches remaining, and—here’s the coincidence—it happened to be one I took as a souvenir from the Pacific Beach Hotel when you, Mark Karlin, took me and Anne to breakfast there.
So now, Mark Karlin, I do wish you a Happy Birthday, and I salute you as my senior. I intend, in another three hundred sixty-four days, to catch up to you in age once more.
Thanks for keeping in touch. I hope you and Al will visit when you are traveling this summer.
Love, Dave
I’ll send Mark Spaulding a cc of this message, and then I’ll bike to the post office, where I shall hope to find in my PO Box a card with a Honolulu postmark.
----- [DCF replied to Mark Karlin's June 4 note]-----
From: David C. Fischer <d—@juno.com>
To: [Mark Karlin]
Date: Thu, 5 Jun 2014 02:07:00 -0500
Subject: Re: Happy Birthday
Mark, thank you! Miss you! Let's talk soon. Love, Dave
On Wed, 4 Jun 2014 12:21:10 -0700 Mark <> writes:
> Re: Happy Birthday
> Just a quick note to say hello and to let you know that all best
> wishes are being sent your way on your special day! H A P P Y. B I
> R T H D A Y T O Y O U ! ! !
>
>
♦
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