Friday, September 21, 2007

Asian Adventures, Vol. I

My all-time favorite airport experience happened several years ago at LAX. I was at the airport by myself, minding my own business, just standing and reading a magazine. An elderly man (very elderly, at least 85 years old) started walking towards me.

“Hello there, young man!” His breath smelled really bad. I wasn’t sure if it was the Ensure or if it was just old man smell.
“Um…hello,” I replied, cautiously.
“I knew your father!” he exclaimed, although his voice did not allow him to exclaim as loudly as he may have liked.

I was puzzled. How did he know my dad? How did he know who I was? Because this guy could be genuinely crazy, I remained silent.

“Your father was a great, great man!”
“Uh-huh,” I mumbled, burying my head back in my magazine.
“I always admired your father!” What could this guy possibly be talking about?
“Your father – Bruce Lee! – what a great man!” I looked at him quizzically.
“I miss Bruce Lee.”

Yes, yes, don’t we all. Don’t we all.

3 comments:

madphoenix50 said...

Wow, smelly and incredibly racist. Great combination.

Eric Ma said...

He seemed senile enough that I didn't take offense.

vishal said...

its ok, i was rocking the beard for a while, and one of my coworkers came up to me and said that i looked like osama.

it just happens. at least you get bruce lee.