Who The Heck Was That?
by Susan McGunnigle Condon

I love the movie, "On Golden Pond". Part of it scares me, too. Norman is funny but getting very old - and we are all headed in that direction. He picks up a photograph off the table of him and his daughter and says "Who the heck is that?" Only he doesn't say heck - he says the bad version of heck which I will not use here because this is a "kid friendly website".

Yesterday after church and dinner I ran down to the "d". As I stepped out of the car, two ladies came running at me. One said "Susan! I am so glad you are here. I did not want to leave the Island for the winter without saying good-bye to you!".  Her friend said, "Thank God you found her!

As I smiled I thought "Who the heck is this?" Only I must confess I thought the other word in my mind. As we chatted away (I am pretty good at being phony) I wracked my brain - "Who are these people?" As we said goodbye (I thought she might throw her arms around me and kiss me) I asked, "And what is your name again?" "Arlene" she answered. "Of course" I said.

That incident scared me. Was she really one of my best friends and I just forgot?

A few months ago Dad and I were doing a sale in Amagansett. A middle-aged woman walked up to Dad and started chatting away - telling him about her family and asking him about his. He answered very politely (he is not as good about being phony as me, though). When the woman left he asked me "Who the heck was that?" I answered, "She was your girlfriend in the eighth grade" (which was absolutely true). "Boy, she looks old," he said. Maybe we are all getting old.