I was talking to a pal about Arie, maybe you remember him. He’s the genius ex- Special Forces soldier I knew briefly. I will probably know him again, briefly because I liked Arie quite a bit, his psycho-ness aside, because he was unique and entertaining.

So I’m sure I’ll rattle his cage again at some point and when I do, he will probably respond because he liked me quite a bit, my psycho-ness aside, because I was unique and entertained.

So anyway, Arie was also a cop. He was an Inspector in San Francisco for 30 years, followed by a short stint with the NYPD before he retired. He has two degrees in the criminal field and was the fellow who was shot in the chest by a whore in a toilet at short range… and survived.

So I don’t know what you think, but this is a lot of fame in my opinion. This is a guy with some stories to tell and with five planets in Aquarius and a Scorpio Moon, his flair was legendary.

“Yeah, well Arie was like that,” I explained to my pal. “You just don’t shake this kind of training. For example, I went shopping with Arie once. Grocery shopping, this is. You know. Because he was going to cook for me. He’s a gourmet cook. He’s a foodie,.”

“So we went shopping and I’d never seen anything like it in my life. Here I am, a Frito Girl, so I’m looking at the displays. Who’s got what endcap? That’s what I want to know. Who is selling what, but Arie? He was scopin’ the place. He was casing everything the whole time. He pretty much went down the aisles with his back against one side, eyes darting.

She laughed.

“Oh, but he was serious. He was trying to get his groceries and get out of there alive, I guess. It was funny. And he was trying to entertain me too, of course. Because he knew I was watching him.”

“But seriously, I’ve never seen anything like it in my life. We’d get to the end of an aisle and he’s peep out like a cop to see if it was safe to move out from the cover.”

“Clear!” she shouted.

I laughed heartily. “Yeah. You got it. That’s exactly right. And when it was clear, he’d motion me out and circle around the end cap with his back to it. In case he had to draw, I guess. It was hysterical. And beautiful too,” I said.

She was quiet so I decided I should elaborate. “See, he had some grace. He was damned near up on his toes, doing this. It was like dancing. He was light on his feet. He was artful and agile, you could say. It was like this whole thing was choreographed… this is how you shop, Arie-style. It was a cop ballet, I suppose. And anyway, I am just saying, some of these guys are like that. They get that training and they… well they never put it down. And I guess if you look from their perspective, why would they?”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah. You don’t want to get killed in Safeway and you know how to avoid it, so why not?” I smiled. “So anyway, that’s my story. I went to Safeway with Arie and I don’t imagine I’ll ever forget it. It was a very good time. He showed me a good time any way you turn it so what more do you want?”

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