She put the bad pen in the drawer

At the NAMI meeting in Glenside, PA, I sat on the aisle and used the free pen that awaited each person on their seat. I scribbled some notes with the pen. The pen faltered. I pressed harder. Now it obeyed. Nice smooth writing. Good pen. Ooops. It happens again. Where's the ink? It's not working. What kind of a goddamn pen is this anyway? I looked for a wastebasket. Ah, three feet away, lined in plastic. Could I toss it in?

She saw me aiming. She put out her hand. She would help me throw it out. I give it to her.

What? She's putting it in the frigging drawer.

It's bad, Stephenie, the pen doesn't work. Throw it out.

She puts the pen in the drawer.

Whaaaaaaa?!

Peggela picked me up and we drove over in her huge white SUV that was like mounting a horse to get inside. I remember riding in the same car when I had bad sciatica and wished there were a coachman to lift me into the seat.

The reason I went to the meeting was to network. I wanted to plead my case to the speaker who's in a position, I thought wrongly, to give my support group more money. Actually the person responsible for giving us money, Nancy, paid a surprise visit to the meeting. For sure I would speak to her at the end.

I didn't. She came over to me as soon as I walked in, stood real close to me, so that I looked into her sea-blue eyes, and she said, Ruth, I'm working on getting you more money. I haven't forgotten about it.

Exciting! The money will be used to run my Connexions Group for people in our group who have difficultly socializing. I refuse to do it for free. On a sheet of paper at home I write down ideas for the group. It WILL happen.

I'd sent out an email to group members inviting them to the NAMI meeting. As meetings go, it was not among the most helpful for us, so I was pleasantly surprised to find Arnie there and Judy.

At least if the goddamn pen worked I could've gotten a free pen out of it. Oh, well, I'll have to rely on the dozens of pens I have all over the house. You can be sure if any of them fail me, I don't tell Stephanie.