A Song for Ezra (ONC 2021)(manxman)✅

Fly Me to the Moon

Earlier than usual, I had enough time to stop at Dunkin to buy a Box O' Joe and two dozen donuts, knowing I'd probably get a lecture from Sheila for causing all the diabetic blood sugars to be high. If I were in my seventies, eighties, or nineties, I wouldn't worry about my blood sugars.

"Oh, boy, coffee!" Don announced, as excited as I thought he'd be.

"And you're on time, too," Herbert added.

I poured coffee for everyone and handed out the donuts before sitting down at my usual table with the three men.

"Hi, Millie," I said. "We missed you on Friday."

"Where was I on Friday?" Millie responded.

"You had a doctor's appointment," Mrs. Carpenter reminded her.

"Oh, yeah, my daughter's always taking me to those appointments," she said. "She thinks I'm going to live forever. I'd rather she leave me alone."

"She just cares," I said.

"Ooo... I think Ezra's in love," Gloria said. "What's her name?"

Immediately, my face burned. How could I be in love? I had only known Levi for three days. Besides, I had a great poker face. Maybe Gloria was hallucinating and had another urinary tract infection or something. She always became delusional when she was ill.

"Gee whizz, give the boy a break," Joe said. "He just got here. You think he's in love just because he brought coffee and donuts?"

"I can see it in his eyes. His eyes are very expressive," Gloria said.

"I don't think Ezra's love life is anyone's business," Sheila said, coming to my rescue. She also made the assumption that I was in love. I wasn't in love. I'd never been in love and probably would never be in love.

"I'm not in love," I said. "I have a new friend... a new tenant. He's a musician, like me."

"That sounds lovely," Mrs. Carpenter said.

"You know what we haven't heard in awhile?" Jeanette said, changing the subject. I was happy to talk about something else. "Frank Sinatra."

"What are you talking about?" Herbert scoffed, shuffling the deck of cards. "He sings Sinatra all the time. It's a lunch time thing."

After setting up for lunch, I typically serenaded the group with Sinatra. Fly Me to the Moon was a popular request and it remained on my playlist.

"How 'bout he sing something else for once?" Herbert continued. "How 'bout some Elvis?"

For as long as I'd known Herbert, he wanted me to sing Elvis Presley. I never felt the urge to see any Elvis songs.

"The boy doesn't like Elvis," Don said.

"Has he ever said that?" Herbert responded.

"He would have sung Elvis if he liked him."

"Maybe I'll play Elvis some day," I said, more to appease Herbert.

"Elvis Presley's over-rated," Don said.

"The boy's been here for ten minutes, and you're already arguing over what he should sing," Joe said. "Maybe he doesn't feel like singing today. Now let's stop all this chattering and focus."

"I don't mind singing," I said.

"Focus, Ezra," Don said. "Look at your hand. Got anything good?"

I had a great hand, and they'd never know because I had one of the best poker faces around. Maybe my eyes were expressive, like Gloria said, but these guys would never look at my eyes, especially Joe with his macular degeneration. He used a magnifying glass to look at his cards.