A Name on a Slip of Paper
Title
A Name on a Slip of Paper
Identifier
A_NAME_ON_A_SLIP_OF_PAPER
Creator
Jacob Schlitt
Description
"I was cleaning out my wallet this morning and came across a name and an email address written on a slip of paper."
Date
2016-10-18
Coverage
2016
Format
application/pdf
Type
text
Language
en
Text
A NAME ON A SLIP OF PAPER
I was cleaning out my wallet this morning and came across a name and an email address written on a slip of paper. I had no idea who the person was. It had to be someone I had met recently. Before we went on the cruise. But in what connection? I haven’t been going to conferences, meetings, lectures, in a long time. Natalie Alper? Who was she? Did I meet her at the Workmen’s Circle, at the Newton Center Minyan, while shopping? I had no idea.
I tried to picture her. Nothing. These days, when you want to find out something, anything, you google it. That is what I did throughout my prostate experience. That is what I do whenever I want to know something about any person whose name pops into my head. I googled Natalie Alper. And there she was. An abstract artist with connections to MIT and Yale
I stared at the entries. It made no sense. I looked again at the slip of paper. Her name and email address were clearly written in her handwriting. I know I didn’t pick it up on the street. I didn’t find it in a library book. It had been written for me and given to me.
I thought and thought And then I remembered. Eureka! Mothers Day. Fran always wants to go to a special restaurant for special occasions. Mothers Day is a special occasion and the most special restaurant in the area is Lineage. We had been there once. Very special, very French and very pricey. And it was closing for good at the end of the month. I called and made a reservation for a weekday following Mothers Day. Fran was pleased when I told her.
When we arrived at the restaurant, all the tables were filled. We waited a few minutes and then were led to a lovely table toward the back.. We sat down, looked at the menu, noticed that for some special occasion they were celebrating, they were cutting the price of their bottled wines in half, so we ordered a bottle of wine.
The couple to our left seemed to be enjoying themselves, having had a couple of martinis, and were beginning to work on the appetizers and wine. We seemed to be approximately the same age. He looked over and smiled. I returned the smile. He then said how wonderful the Lineage was and how much they will miss the restaurant when it closes. They come here regularly. I agreed that it was a fine restaurant. I did not want to tell him that this was only the second time we had been here, and that I do not do restaurants like this regularly.
Such conversations take the usual course. Where are you from originally? Turns out we were both originally from New York. What do you do? He is a physician attached to Brigham and Women’s. Semi-retired. I told him I had worked for the US Civil Rights Commission and was fully retired. When the women entered the conversation, Fran mentioned that she was a social worker and described some of the places she had worked. Our neighbor’s wife said that she was an artist. Of course, Fran and I expressed an interest, and I said that I have a couple of kids who are artists. She explained that she has a studio and is still actively painting, mostly abstract, and that she recently had an exhibit of her work somewhere. I forget where, but I am sure I could google it.
It was then that she said if we would like to see her work, we could check her website, and wrote her name and email address on a slip of paper: Nataliealper [at] RCN [dot] com. Check it out.
10-18-16
I was cleaning out my wallet this morning and came across a name and an email address written on a slip of paper. I had no idea who the person was. It had to be someone I had met recently. Before we went on the cruise. But in what connection? I haven’t been going to conferences, meetings, lectures, in a long time. Natalie Alper? Who was she? Did I meet her at the Workmen’s Circle, at the Newton Center Minyan, while shopping? I had no idea.
I tried to picture her. Nothing. These days, when you want to find out something, anything, you google it. That is what I did throughout my prostate experience. That is what I do whenever I want to know something about any person whose name pops into my head. I googled Natalie Alper. And there she was. An abstract artist with connections to MIT and Yale
I stared at the entries. It made no sense. I looked again at the slip of paper. Her name and email address were clearly written in her handwriting. I know I didn’t pick it up on the street. I didn’t find it in a library book. It had been written for me and given to me.
I thought and thought And then I remembered. Eureka! Mothers Day. Fran always wants to go to a special restaurant for special occasions. Mothers Day is a special occasion and the most special restaurant in the area is Lineage. We had been there once. Very special, very French and very pricey. And it was closing for good at the end of the month. I called and made a reservation for a weekday following Mothers Day. Fran was pleased when I told her.
When we arrived at the restaurant, all the tables were filled. We waited a few minutes and then were led to a lovely table toward the back.. We sat down, looked at the menu, noticed that for some special occasion they were celebrating, they were cutting the price of their bottled wines in half, so we ordered a bottle of wine.
The couple to our left seemed to be enjoying themselves, having had a couple of martinis, and were beginning to work on the appetizers and wine. We seemed to be approximately the same age. He looked over and smiled. I returned the smile. He then said how wonderful the Lineage was and how much they will miss the restaurant when it closes. They come here regularly. I agreed that it was a fine restaurant. I did not want to tell him that this was only the second time we had been here, and that I do not do restaurants like this regularly.
Such conversations take the usual course. Where are you from originally? Turns out we were both originally from New York. What do you do? He is a physician attached to Brigham and Women’s. Semi-retired. I told him I had worked for the US Civil Rights Commission and was fully retired. When the women entered the conversation, Fran mentioned that she was a social worker and described some of the places she had worked. Our neighbor’s wife said that she was an artist. Of course, Fran and I expressed an interest, and I said that I have a couple of kids who are artists. She explained that she has a studio and is still actively painting, mostly abstract, and that she recently had an exhibit of her work somewhere. I forget where, but I am sure I could google it.
It was then that she said if we would like to see her work, we could check her website, and wrote her name and email address on a slip of paper: Nataliealper [at] RCN [dot] com. Check it out.
10-18-16
Original Format
application/msword
Collection
Citation
Jacob Schlitt, “A Name on a Slip of Paper,” Autobiographical stories & other writing by Jacob Schlitt, accessed April 22, 2025, https://tsirlson.omeka.net/items/show/371.