"In This Corner..." by Grandpa Jim

The Challenge

I want to challenge your imagination. First, close your eyes and picture an eating place. See one that is a cross between “rustic” and “dilapidated.” Over in the corner, a two-man band plays country music. It is crowded and noisy.

Jim, wife Jean, and daughter Donna sit at a table, waiting to be served their late-evening dinner.

Jim and Donna are talking about the band. They are both impressed by the ability of each man to alternate playing several different instruments. Pretty soon, father and daughter find themselves trying to recall the name of a musical group they had admired in the past.

Jim’s trouble is the name of that group which he and Jean had followed with great interest. Donna’s trouble is the effort to help her dad recall the name of a group composed of students he had known. Jim is listing some songs “his group” used to play. Donna is listing some talents that “her group” revealed.

The real difference between these two is that Donna KNOWS the name she refers to, but Jim cannot, for the life of him, think of the name HE seeks. Donna feeds Dad clue after clue, and Jim is under the impression that she, too, can’t recall the name. Donna grows a little frustrated that her tips and clues and “leading” just aren’t working. Jim grows a little frustrated that, together, as hard as they are trying, this name continues to elude THEM.

Meanwhile, Jean sits, quietly amused, listening and hoping that the search(es) will soon be resolved. Dinner is finally brought to the table and only once in a while is the subject resumed. Donna cannot stand it any longer. Having exhausted all clues, she makes one last stab: “Well, DADDY, you even encouraged the kids to get union cards!”

Jim’s mouth drops open. “You mean, “The Siesta Brass?” Donna is dumb-struck. She asks, “Have you known it all the time?”

He says, “No, of course not. I’ve been wracking my brain over that group that used to play over at the Holiday Inn.” “You mean “The On-Stage Majority?”

“Of course, that’s it, The On-Stage Majority!”

All three diners laugh. They laugh almost to the verge of tears. Two people have tried desperately to reach a goal; one who knows a name and one who is convinced he will never recall a totally different name. Two people locked into a mortal struggle to reach what they believed to be the same goal. Thirty or forty minutes, perhaps, of blood, sweat and tears, ending in a long, hearty laugh.