Buck

He was pushing a cart down the canned vegetable aisle of Winn Dixie. It held an assortment of black eyes peas, okra and mustard greens. But what really caught my attention was his WW II Veteran's baseball cap. I caught his eye and he returned my smile.

"I like your hat" I said.

"Well, thank you very much, young fella. Do I know you?" he replied

I said, "No, but I want to know you." He laughed and pushed his cart to the side for a chat.

We shook hands and he said "My name is Buck and I'm 96 years old."

I said "Buck, you're looking pretty good for 96. My name's Glen and I'm from Maine."

"How long have you been on the island?" he asked.

"Around 8 months. How about you?"

"72 years... so far." he chuckled.

"My father-in law was in the Army Air Corp, The Mighty 8th; Chuck Yeager's outfit. He passed away in 2007."

"Well, lawd, lawd, I was in the Army Air Corp, too. I was a medical corpman. Set a lot of broken arms and legs. Lost track of how many. And I worked as a ship builder, too. I tell people you jes gotta keep going, keep working. Cause if you stop and set down, you rust up solid and die. Ain't many of us left. Jes gotta keep on goin.

We talked for another 10 minutes and when it was time to move on he stepped closer and shook my hand with both of his in a warm embrace.

"Nice talking with you, Buck. Thanks for the chat. And thanks for what you did." I fumbled.

"Nice talking with you too, young fella. Jes keep on goin..."

One of the Greatest...