On my way back from Dave's Funshop, I had a connecting flight in Las Vegas. I walked off the plane behind an older gentleman named John who stopped & asked the gate attendant where he could get a hotel. I thought that was a bit odd, so I said Hello OTCly and then started with a few Yes/No questions. He limped like he'd had a stroke. As we spoke, it became apparent that he had Alzheimer's. He was coherent enough to buy a plane ticket, but not enough to hold a conversation. He had no luggage, he wasn't meeting friends or family. He told no one where he was. I asked him several times what made him want to come to Las Vegas and his answers were: I've always wanted to come, my son came here once, because it was raining
I got out my cell phone & said, "Why don't we call your son & let him know you're here." But he wouldn't (or couldn't?) give me the number. I walked with him through the airport and he asked me to help him get a hotel. Luckily there was a police officer standing at the information desk (not so lucky for the person who'd had the car accident). Anyway, I left John at the hotel courtesy phone wall and told the police officer what was going on. He said he'd had this kind of situation before and took it from there. John had been an electrical engineer and had done a bit of traveling in his day.
I would like to think that I would have been that observant before studying with Dave, but as Dave would say, whonose?
P.S. John wrote a v. EL-O-QUENT post for Dave. I wonder if you'll be curious enough to go see.
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