There is a look.....

There is a look, I just discovered, that one has when you assume the person you are speaking to perhaps has dementia.  I didn’t know this but yesterday I received it, and recognized it right away. Perhaps if I had dementia, I would not recognize the look, but being free of the decrease, I got it quick enough.

I had stopped at the supermarket at lunch time to pick up some missing ingredients I needed to make sticky buns, a new diversion in my life. I thought I’d try baking, as my daughters had gone and they were the family bakers.

As I was leaving, I went over to the prepared foods counter to see if I could get something for lunch. As I looked into the case of hot foods, a great place for pizza, chicken etc., I spied a new item. It was a pin wheeled shaped goody, about 5”-6” wide, made with puff pastry and some kind of filling. There seemed to be two kinds, and I thought I’d check into those. They had no sign for them so I had no idea what they were called or how much they cost. They may have been a desert, I just had no idea but it looked good!

The clerk came over, and offered to help me, as she has done before. I looked into the case full of food, made a circular motion with my forefinger and asked, “What do you call the round things?” She looked quizzically at me and said, “Pardon?” I restated my question, with appropriate finger and hand motion, “What do you call the round things?”

"The look" came over her face, and she tried to be pleasant. She smiled and said, “They’re called potatoes, would you like to try one?”

She moved toward a container of roasted new potatoes with a spoon, and I realized what had happened! “No, I yelled, I know they’re potatoes, what do you call the pin wheel things?”

She laughed along with me now, and she had no idea what they were called either but she knew they were filled with cheese and spinach and they were good, which they were. They were also $2.99, and a great bargain.

I left with my pin wheel lunch, knowing I did not have dementia and feeling a bit foolish but delighted with my very cheap and very fattening lunch!