The text was simple.
“Meet me at Table 12, 9:30 pm.”
The dining room was locked. Table 12 was inaccessible. But as the big clock in the lobby of Meadow Lakes Retirement Community struck the half hour, four figures in nightgowns and robes appeared at the locked door.
Marge Aaron moved forward with a key and unlocked the door.
They hurried in and rushed to table 12, lifted the chairs from on top of the table, arranged them a little farther apart than usual and, standing around the table, emptied the pockets of their robes.
Four wine glasses appeared on the table.
From Marge Aaron’s pockets came two bottles of Chardonnay wine.
“It’s so good to be here!” Hadley Joy Morris Whitfield said. A retired socialite, Hadley was dressed in a blue silk robe with matching nightgown and matching slippers.
“It’s been so long!” Robinson Leary replied. The retired professor wore Creighton Blue Jay sweats.
“How did you get the keys, Marge?” Mary Rose McGill, a sweet Catholic girl asked. Mary Rose had on pink pajamas that said, “I love PJs.”
“Took them out of Alphonso’s pocket as soon as he went to sleep,” Marge smiled. As a retired homicide detective, Marge Aaron would have made an excellent pickpocket.
Meadow Lakes Retirement Community was in lockdown because of the Covid-19 virus. There were no exercise classes, no dining in the dining room (meals were delivered), no fun meetings and no wine-time on Thursdays. Everyone was safe and no one was happy.
“You know what I’m going to do starting tomorrow?” Mary Rose asked, looking around at her friends and grinning ear-to-ear.
They looked at her.
“Every time I meet someone in the hallway when I go get my mail, I’m going to say, ‘Have you lost weight?’”
“That’s good,” Robbie said. “When I opened my refrigerator this afternoon it said, ‘What the hell do you want now?’”
“What?” Mary Rose said.
Robbie repeated herself.
“It’s damn hard,” Marge put in, to have to be six feet apart here when half the population is hard of hearing!”
“What?” Hadley said.
Marge smacked her on the arm and laughed. “The other day Alphonso said I should embrace my mistakes.”
They looked at her.
“So I hugged him!”
“Everyone asks me how I am, and I say okay,” Mary Rose said. “But I really just want to go to Marks Bistro for a long lunch.”
They each took a sip of the wine Marge had poured.
“Speaking of drinking,” Hadley said, holding her glass up, “last week I put a bottle of wine in every room, dressed up and went bar-hopping.”
“We can at least get toilet paper now,” Mary Rose smiled.
“When I was in Costco last week. I saw a roll of toilet paper in the jewelry counter with an expensive price tag.” Marge said.
Mary Rose perked up. “I had a romantic moment with Wiley. We were on the couch and he said, ‘I’m glad I get to spend so much time with you.’”
“That’s sweet,” Robbie said.
“It was until I realized he was talking to Geoffrey the dog!”
They were quiet as they drank more wine.
“Speaking of dogs,” Hadley added. “I hear Harriet Hurley’s dog is so happy it can’t stand it, but her cat is contemplating suicide.”
Marge opened the second bottle and poured into the four glasses.
Robbie raised her glass. “Here’s to staying safe,” she said.
“Here’s to knowing it is what it is, and it becomes what we make of it,” Hadley said.
Marge added, “Here’s to all the cops I know who are risking their lives.”
“To everyone working in the hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, places where people are dying,” Mary Rose finished.
She looked around. “Sneaking in here. Stealing Alphonso’s keys. Sitting this close together. It’s Geriatric Sin.”
“Here’s to Geriatric Sin!” they all said together, raising their glasses again.
In what seemed as no time at all, the grandfather clock in the lobby struck midnight.
Note to you: pass this on to your friends.
Share ideas: what should the girls be doing during lockdown? Send ideas and adventures to joy.johnson@msn.com
As they used to say on old time radio: Stay Tuned.
And read on!
Here is a link to the best poem of the year.
My favorite by far!
If you can’t open it here, cut and paste into your browser or go to
You Tube the great realization poem
The Great Realization-Why Hindsight’s 2020
Mother’s Day all Through May
Mother’s Day doesn’t really end
Not only for kids, but also for friends.
Over all these many years
The mothers and I have shared our tears.
So, to my friends, I lovingly say
I wish you a Happy Mother’s Day all through May
This is a hard time. So during this time of isolation and being safe, we offer you a chance to send a real hug to a friend this Mother’s Day. The BOOB Girls series is all about women’s friendship, and there is no more unique gift than an inscribed and signed book, just for her.
May Special
Any one BOOB Girls Book =$12
Full set of eleven = $125
Gifting: if you want it mailed to your friend(s) be sure to write me a note telling me her name and address. There is no shipping charge.
If you send more than one gift, order on the website, either send me a note from there or email so I’ll know which book goes to whom:
Joy.johnson@msn.com
Credit cards on the website.
Or any orders by phone, and you’ll speak to Joy 402-639-2939
To pay by check, send to
Joy Johnson Brown
8141 Farnam Dr #322
Omaha NE 68114
Be hopeful and save the date:
Sunday, November 22, 1-4pm
Launch Party for BOOB Girls XI: The Last BOOB Girl Book
New Cassel Retirement Center
900 North 90th St, Omaha, Nebraska
We want you there!
Forward this to all your friends. Let’s surround our sadness with BOOB Girls.