Meet My Sister

I've delivered Meals on Wheels as a volunteer for the Big Company for eight years. It's hard to believe ... and it's really only three hours out of my month for a tiny piece of philanthropic goodness ... but I think it's important. Of course, there are lots of characters who I've delivered meals to for a while now. I particularly enjoy reliable Tim. He's always waiting for us to arrive and tends to share his plans for the weekend or what he did last weekend. He was very enthusiastic today as he told us all about his participation in Pride Weekend this weekend. He described his gown (purple) and his tiara and how he was excited to be told that he was a queen in the finest sense.

Today's delivery resulted in another adventure outside of Tim's enthusiasm. As I was delivering one meal, the resident smiled brightly at me and said, "My sister Genevieve is visiting from Vancouver, would you like to meet her?" Now, I'm always hesitant to walk into their apartments (and this is why we deliver meals in at least pairs) but I smiled and said, "I'd love to." I followed her in, but just far enough that I could keep the door open with my foot.

She smiled and said, "now I must warn you, she doesn't talk much." Then she quickly turned into her kitchen and whipped out ... a mannequin head with a wig on it! At first I wasn't sure if she was joking or not. I mean, she could think it was her sister (the wig mirrored her own short coif.) Then the old woman smiled brightly and said, "Meet my sister." I am sure my eyes turned into the size of large tea saucers. Her smile got bigger, "naw ... it's just my new wig. I'm losing my hair, so I ordered a wig."

I didn't quite know what to do next, so I complimented the wig and said it was quite lovely and a very pretty color. Then I smiled and said, have a lovely day ... and quickly went to the elevators back to my co-deliverers. It was an interesting day for Meals on Wheels today!