A Funny Thing Happened on the way to.....

Last week, my friend Sue was here in the evening, and we got talking about our school days. I told her about a girl who sat beside me in grade seven, and on Fridays, when we had spelling, mental arithmetic etc tests, she would 'crib' some of my answers, as I was NOT very good at mental arithmetic. She was a'ball of wax' and loads of fun. I have not seen her for many years. She and her husband used to live here, but moved back to Padthaway some time ago.
The next day, Neville and I traveled to Naracoorte so I could do the grocery shopping. I got the check out girl to do a parcel pick up, as we had other things to do, and I did not know when Neville would be back from the farm.He arrived back at 11.30, and suggested, as it was my birthday the following Monday, we have lunch at one of the pubs in Naracoorte. This suited me, as I am not very enamoured of the two here.
After lunch, we went back to Woolies, and Neville went to the desk and asked for our groceries, while I sat on one of the benches in the forecourt, and waited. A woman walked past me, stopped suddenly, did a 'double take', walked back to me and put her hand on my shoulder, and said,'I bet you don't remember me'. I looked at her, and said she had me at a disadvantage, and she said she was Sandy Merrett. I instantly recognized her as the girl I had been telling Sue about the night before! I had forgotten her married name, and she had changed a lot. She obviouly spends a lot of time outside, and looks fairly weather beaten. I remarked that I couldn't have altered much, if she recognized me so quickly. She said I have not aged much. I told her Iwas nearly 59, and she said she is already sixty. She sat down for a few minutes, as she was in a hurry, and said she had only mused to her husband that week, that she hadn't seen me for years. I told her about the instance the night before, and she said 'Small world, isn't it?'
She then asked me how 'Robbie' was. I was very amused, and I guessed, correctly, she was referring to my brother, Robert. I said no-one called him that in the family, and the rest of the town calls him Bob. Funny how things occur.I rang my brother that night, and we had a long chat about them and others we had known in the dim, distant past.