Apple Lazy Mints Outside
Posted 2 years, 1 month ago at 12:45. 0 comments
When I was 12 years old, my Grandfather, Ray, fulfilled the promise he made to my dying Grandmother when he took me across Canada by train. The trip had three purposes:
- Allow me to see and appreciate my own country;
- Show me where both my parent’s families had come from; and
- Further my comparative study of comic book pricing in cities across Canada.
At the time, I remember not being very thrilled about the prospect of visiting rural Saskatchewan and Alberta. I was also a little dubious as to whether the two of us would get along while travelling together for several weeks.
As it turns out, my Grandfather was great fun to travel with. Unlike me, Ray was a talker. Given a conscious audience with even a modicum of interest, he could talk their ear off, and then turn his attention to their remaining ear. Tales of growing up on the prairies, his baseball exploits, his years in the service, the current state of financial markets…you name it. Our train crossing of the Rockies consisted of one long conversation with a couple from New Jersey that lasted all the way from Calgary to Vancouver, and too many Caesars to count (mine had very little vodka, or so I’m told).
It’s somewhat ironic therefore that the story I feel most typifies my Grandfather is actually about brevity. “Apple Lazy Mints Outside” was an overheard, throwaway phrase uttered by a restauranteur in Grenfell to answer the questions of several patrons in one breath, mostly concerning the dessert selection of the day and the location of the washroom. However, to hear my Grandfather tell the surrounding story could involve an hour of build-up: the history of all the patrons in the restaurant, the menu, and the weather at the time before even approaching the punchline. I must have heard that story a hundred times growing up, but the way he told that story captivated us as children, and we asked him to tell it again and again. Of course, he also offered to tell it even more often.
The couple from New Jersey certainly seemed to enjoy the story as well.
To Ray: a great travelling companion, the family bard, and a heckuva Grandfather. You will be sorely missed.
1914-2006
