The Kid and the Old Lady – by Bob Beardsley

Once upon a time in O'Hare, I was sitting at the gate waiting for a flight home with Elly and Bob C. It was after the BCBL meeting. It happened we would all be in the same seating vicinity on the plane.  Not true for the Kid -- yes we are speaking of Jed -- who had booked separately and was in the tail of the plane.  Undeterred, the Kid must have used his keen sense of observation and discovered that the elderly lady -- who was sitting near us in the gate waiting area -- also had a plane seat right in the same row as we three old time BCBLers. 

The Kid's mind raced and I could see something dramatic was about to happen as he approached the grandmotherly looking woman --- and offered to swap seats with her!  Straight up!  She looked at him a little puzzled and I could see he was using the Jedi mind trick. I could almost hear him mutter under his breath "You will trade seats with young Jed. It will be good for you".   

After a moment, the kindly looking Nana simply said "no."  Jed was dumbfounded.  For a moment I thought he was gonna throw something into the deal, but alas, he just nodded and wandered away stunned.   He was defeated. Could this have been the first trade offer that Jed was turned down on that weekend?