I’d like to meet

A magical leprechaun who would grant me one wish. Unfortunately or perhaps maliciously, he will misconstrue my words and turn my lavish dream into a comical, yet non-lethal anecdote.

Many years later I will be sitting at the soda fountain of my neighborhood Five & Dime, sipping an egg crème and wondering why a prescription of Amoxicillin takes 45 minutes to fill, when she will walk in. Stunning and struggling to find vanilla wafers in aisles of shortbread cookies, I will come to her aid. After exchanged smiles and a thank you, she buys me an egg salad sandwich. It will be on marble rye and we will share it.

I will take a deep breath tell her about my brief encounter with mythical lore, which by this time I will have told so many times, the actual nature of the (already farcical) tale will have evolved into an intricate one-man production - complete with timed moments of reflection and a five-figure book deal on the table. She will tell me about the importance of picking up dry-cleaning in a timely manner and why her family still calls her “Boots”.

We will wed 14 months later in a small ceremony off Lake Michigan. In attendance will be her cousin Jon Favereau, who as fate would have it, played law student-to-be D-Bob in 1993’s Rudy – the inspired underdog tale of Daniel E. “Rudy” Ruttegier and his time at the University of Notre Dame.