Again this year, I celebrated my birthday with Fayez. Fayez is probably very lucky to even be here to celebrate with me. A couple years ago, he narrowly….and miraculously….escaped an almost catastrophic injury. And, possibly even worse than that. He is aware….just as I am aware…..exactly how fortunate he is to be in any condition to be walking without the assistance of a wheel chair, a walker….or even artificial limbs.

There is very little doubt that all these thoughts were heavy on his mind…..and that he approached the celebration of my birthday with both a cautious and thankful attitude …..grateful that he had been spared the great harm that could well have consumed him. Fayez also realized that his near fate was of his own design….that it was he alone who had to bear the responsibility for the danger he brought to his life. Realizing this liability…..or perhaps even out of a sense of guilt….and certainly, we can assume….out of a sense of fear, we can be almost certain that he was eager not to repeat his prior mistake this year. And, the mistake was without a doubt avoidable. Fear can be a powerful motivator: either toward extreme discretion and prudence. Or it can it can activate acts of carelessness and foolhardiness. Fayez realized that the dire situation from two years ago was not necessary; that is was needless; and that it could easily be averted. So, in this case….. Fear motivated him toward the correct path.

I was also wary. It was….and is….I who holds the power and the potential to inflict….or to suppress or deny….any catastrophic consequences or results.

OK….. Let me explain.

This all dates back to my birthday in 2016. It started off well intentioned. My birthday is on July 28. This is when it occurs almost every year, in fact! In 2016, July 28 fell on Thursday. Fayez was coming to the Darrah Ranch to celebrate my birthday. He was employed by Wichita State University….and was also a student there….so we postponed his visit until Friday, July 29. No big deal. I was just happy that he was able to come up for the occasion….as I always am.

When Fayez comes to visit, the time he tells me he will arrive is….. Well, relative. Give a couple minutes here….a couple hours there. Usually, the only thing I can be relatively sure of is that he will probably show up…..eventually, because he has to drive up from Wichita after work. He always arrives late in the afternoon or early evening. That rather precisely coincides with my nap time. I rather neatly solved the problem by proceeding with my nap…..and leaving the door unlocked. Whenever Fayez arrived, he could simply open the door and walk in. Normally, the sound of the door opening is more than enough to wake me up. There have been a couple times that he had to tickle my foot or do something similar to get my attention.

Fayez arrived in the late afternoon of Friday, July 29th……the day after my birthday…..carrying a cake from Dairy Queen…..my favorite kind. His, too. Even though he had it in an insulated cooler, the cake was starting to show signs of deterioration. In other words…. It was starting to melt. After a few obligatory photos to record the moment for history, he proceeded immediately to cut each of us a piece of the cake….which we proceeded immediately to eat. Good cake….. The rest of the cake….and that was most of the cake…..we could put into the freezer and eat it leisurely later on.

This was the point when things took a bizarre… surreal…. turn. Sitting in my recliner….caught completely unaware of what was happening, Fayez got up, started walking to the kitchen, to put the cake in the freezer, I assumed. Then he stopped, leaned over toward me…..and smashed the cake into my face. There was a moment complete shock…. For a few seconds, I didn’t even realize that had happened. My brain was acting sort of like a computer…. Trying to calculate what had just happened. Trying to fit the little pieces together; trying to come up with a solution….a scenario….trying to compute…..

Fayez burst out laughing. He thought it was funny….something really hilarious.

Beryl? Well….. Let’s say that he did not find it to be funny. He did not find it to be clever. He did not find it to be a brilliant prank. Beryl was not amused. Beryl was not laughing.

My face….and my shirt….were covered with ice cream. Ice cream from my own birthday cake.

For a few seconds, my mind went blank….. Fayez stood and laughed and said such things as, “Wasn’t that funny?” “You’re not mad, are you?” “It was a joke.” “It is something to remember your birthday.”

So…… It was at this moment that crucial decisions about Fayez’s life were made. I could have just killed him…..and buried him in the back yard. I doubt if anybody would have missed him. And, even if they did, I am sure he had told absolutely nobody where he was going. Nobody in Wichita was even aware that he knew me….indeed that I even existed….much less have a clue that he was spending the weekend at my house.

I could have inflicted great bodily harm on him….broken arms or legs….or skull. Well….I know people who would have done it for me. I know people!

I could have done something bad to him….or his property. I could have let the air out of his tires….or broken the headlights…..or even worse, hid his cell phone! Now that would have been ultimate punishment.

But….No! I took the high road. I did not seek revenge. I suppressed all my ulterior and uncharitable thoughts and desires (no matter how justifiable they may have been.) I changed my shirt; I washed my face. And…. That, my friends, is why Fayez is still alive and was able to help me celebrate my 81^st birthday. And….. You want to know something else about that birthday fateful birthday when there was almost one less Fayez to occupy the world? He didn’t even bring me a gift!

For the past several years….maybe since 2013…. I have spent my birthdays with either Fayez….or his younger brother, Sultan. Sometimes we have been at home, either at the former Ozawkie residence or here in Topeka at the townhouse….Darrah Tower…and sometimes we have been on the road…..traveling somewhere in the USA. No matter where we are, it has developed into a pleasant tradition.

This year my birthday fell on Sunday. Fayez and I had planned to meet in Hutchinson for the weekend to celebrate the auspicious day. Commemorate or acknowledge would probably be more descriptive words. Although, I suppose when a person reaches the age of 81, there is a legitimate reason to celebrate. In any case, we had planned on meeting in Hutchinson on the weekend of July 27-28. I began to search for a motel in Hutchinson. “Search” is a pretty strong word. I grew up in the Hutchinson area….and have virtually lived there in one form or another all my life. Maybe not physically in the city….but with enough trips there that I am certainly not a stranger to the town.

Hutchinson is not blessed with an over-abundance of good hotels. The hotels generally fall into one of two categories: Expensive or cheap. The nice, comfortable, well-appointed hotels are Expensive. The others are “Cheap”. Another problem, especially for me, is the matter of stairs. Most, if not all….and I suspect it is all….of the cheap hotels have stairs…..No Elevators. And, I cannot climb stairs easily. Most of these cheap hotels are probably as old as I am….and most of them are located in the downtown area. I suspect that some of them are actually not bad….that they are probably adequately comfortable….if it were not for the fact that I would have to climb one or more flights of stairs to the room.

Until my younger brother died about a year ago, I usually stayed in Lyons at the Celebration Inn. The Celebration Inn is my idea of a good hotel. Comfortable bed, always a comfortable chair to sit in, a comfortable chair at the computer desk, a small refrigerator and microwave oven….plus a coffee maker. And…. It has an elevator. It has all of this….. And, it is affordable. It was almost my home away from home, since I made the trip to Lyons to see my brother on a regular basis. I was on a first name basis with the hotel staff. They even recognized my voice on the telephone before I had a chance to identify myself. Is it any wonder that I looked forward to staying there when I traveled to Lyons? The Celebration Inn became the hotel by which I judge all other hotels….big or small, in cities or towns.

Rooms in the Celebration Inn cost $70.00 per night….including all the amenities I listed, plus a good breakfast. Nothing can compare to this in Hutchinson. A room comparable to this in one of the name-brand, chain hotels can…and will….easily cost upward to $150.00 a night. Out of my price range. For my past several visits to Hutchinson, I have stayed in the Atrium Hotel. The Atrium Hotel is a “convention center”…. A rather large, sprawling place, at least for Hutchinson. It does not have an elevator, but I have always been fortunate to be able to book a room on the ground floor.

Yeah….. The Atrium Hotel has similar amenities to the Celebration Inn….except it is dark and dismal. Most of the rooms have no outside windows….they face inward toward the swimming pool or meeting area. There are long, dimly lighted, rather spooky corridors. The rooms are positively dark! I can barely make out where the bed is…..let alone do any reading. I always carry at least two 100 watt bulbs with me with I stay there: One for the desk lamp and one for the lamp beside the reading chair. I don’t know…. Maybe these rooms were constructed for blind people….or bats.

I would change motels in Hutchinson…..but the “better” motels are too expensive, and the “cheap” motels do not have elevators…. So, when I stay in Hutch, I am more or less sentenced to stay at the Atrium Hotel.

Another looming problem showed its puzzling, if not ugly, face. What were Fayez and I going to do for two days in Hutchinson? We had already been to the Salt Museum; we had already been to the Cosmosphere….the space museum. And, the Kansas State Fair only takes place in September. Those, basically, are the three “attractions” in Hutchinson. When you have seen them…. You have seen Hutch.

We could have stayed in our motel room and slept all day…..both days….only to wake up and go out and eat. I am thinking that Fayez would have probably found that to be desirable…..a perfect plan. But, not I. It had been a long time since Fayez and I had actually had fun together. I mean really had fun….done something….gone somewhere. I wanted to do something….see something….have fun…. Take pictures! And, obviously, that was not going to happen if we stayed in Hutchinson.

I logged on to the Internet….. I checked the event calendars for every small town within thirty miles of Hutchinson. Surely there was a 4-H Fair….or an antique car show….or a parade of old tractors somewhere. Any other weekend would have been bustling with small town activities….the sort of things I would never consider doing under normal circumstances. Red neck things…. Rural things….. But, of course….wouldn’t you know? This particular weekend: Nothing! Hicksville was closed down for a week. The red necks were taking the week off. Come on, guys. Here I am….a progressive former farm boy. Normally, I would not consider attending your kind of fun. But…. Come on! This weekend I am willing to join you in your kind of “fun”. I am begging you. Are you going to desert me? Who knows? Maybe you can even convert me. (No… You can’t. That will probably never happen. But, it sounds good when I am begging!)

So….. I unilaterally made the decision that Fayez and I would meet in Wichita….not Hutchinson. Oh…. Please don’t think that I was being arrogant or self-centered! Fayez was overjoyed! He really didn’t want to drive to Hutchinson anyway. Going to Hutchinson was, for him, infinitely more favorable that driving to Topeka: Forty five minutes versus two hours! He had already won the “travel sweepstakes”! Getting to stay in Wichita while I did all the driving? Wow… That was like winning the lottery. No….. Believe me. There was no argument from him.

There were two decisions that had to be made…..that I had to make. First… Where would I stay? On my last trip to Wichita for the 4^th of July, I selected a hotel in the northeast part of the city….a fairly easy drive from the Kansas Turnpike exit. I looked at a dozen hotels….probably more. I systematically ruled out each one of them: Too expensive, too difficult to get to, no elevator, no comfortable chair in the room…. On the other hand, I also ruled out the cheap hotels, too…. Normally, you get what you pay for .

I settled for the La Quinta Hotel. It looked attractive from

the outside….fairly new and modern. It cost a little more than I wanted to pay….but it had breakfast, an elevator….and a comfortable chair in the room. Fayez and I both saw the pictures of the room. Yes…. Right there, as clear as could be, was a comfortable chair. This is the Place! (Thank you, Brigham Young.) Well…..to make a long story short: Yes, they served breakfast; yes, there was an elevator; NO….there was NOT a chair in the room. So…. Yet another hotel struck from potential places to stay.

Fayez asked me later on if “a chair” was how I choose a hotel room. The answer is basically, “YES!” If I am going to stay in a hotel room for two or three nights…..I want to be comfortable. I want a comfortable chair so I can sit and read….or watch TV.

All the hotels in northeast Wichita had basically been ruled out for one of the qualifying reasons. I concentrated my search on north Wichita. North Wichita would be easier to get to. I would travel the Kansas Turnpike to Emporia…..go west on US 50 to Newton….and then take I-135 south. Not a bad route.

So….. I logged onto the computer and started searching. Expedia.com…Booking.com….Hotel.com….. All of the usual places. I have a “cast in stone” rule: Never stay at a Motel 6. Yes…. They are usually less expensive, but they are also “cheaper”. Normally, I find them just one step above staying in a KOA Kabin, and usually about the same price! The usual furniture is nothing but a bed and a straight back chair.

As I was looking through the hotel listings for north Wichita….actually Park City and Valley Center, since they are in reality suburban north Wichita….I found five or six hotels listed. One of the hotels was a Motel 6. I didn’t even bother to look at it the first two or three times. Then, out of curiosity, I clicked on it to take a brief glance. Wow! I had to look twice….three times….. There in plain sight was a nice comfortable chair! Sitting there beside the bed….. Yes! I was sober! Wide awake. I excitedly decided to book a motel room…..in a Motel 6.

The next problem? I bet you never dreamed there could be so many problems just getting ready to spend two days with Fayez….did you? The next problem….or maybe next task would be a better way to say it….was to decide what we would…or could…do in Wichita. Never mind the fact that Fayez had lived in Wichita for seven years. Seven minutes…..seven days….seven years…. He still had no clue what was available to occupy our time.

Back when I was growing up in Sterling….and that was a long time ago….I and my friends went to Wichita quite often. No… We didn’t drive down there every day….or even every week. But, Wichita was high on our list of places within a reasonable driving time. Things were different back then. In more ways than one. Wichita was still the largest city in Kansas….but not nearly as big as it is today. Back in those days, Wichita was a much more manageable city. This was before the days of the Interstate Highway System….before the Kansas Turnpike….before the urban sprawl and urban crush that has even taken over Wichita. In fact, the very first four-lane highway I ever drove on…or even saw…was the highway between Newton and Wichita. And, it was not I-135! I thought that four-lane highway was wonderful….amazing. I felt like a big dog even driving on it.

When I was in high school and college, driving to Wichita was nothing. And, driving IN Wichita was nothing. We drove all over town; we knew all the major streets: Kellogg, Douglas, Market, Rock Road, Oliver, Hydraulic…. We knew all of the “important” places. Places like Cow Town, Joy Land Amusement Park, Kiddie Land, the Lassen Hotel, Riverside Park, the Riverside Zoo….. We would drive to Wichita to the Cinerama Theater every time the movie changed. Cinerama was awesome…absorbing the viewer right into the movie itself (or so we thought). Many times on Sunday, a friend of mine and I would drive to Wichita to attend either the First Presbyterian Church or the First Baptist Church….both huge, magnificent churches with huge, magnificent pipe organs. Wichita was our regional airport. That is where, on those rare, but special occasions, we would go to catch a plane to go somewhere…..or to meet somebody coming to visit.

Yeah…. Back in the “old days”, I thought nothing of getting into my car…..and going to Wichita. But, today is different. Maturity….some call it old age….has crept up on me. I no longer trust myself to drive in large cities. My eyesight is no longer as good as it once was. My perception is not as quick. My reactions have slowed down. The sad truth is: Driving in strange places not only makes me a danger to myself….but most certainly to all the other drivers as well.

I guess the point is: When I stay in Wichita, I need to find a hotel that is easily accessible. I park my car…..and then it is up to Fayez to play taxi driver. Which he does very well.

Now…. Back to “What to do?” Since neither Fayez nor I had done anything in Wichita, the field was wide open….the options were limitless, within the limits of what Wichita has to offer. And, it turned out…. More than I suspected.

My utmost criteria in finding interesting things to do in Wichita was: What would Fayez enjoy doing? What were some activities we could engage in that both of us would enjoy…that would be interesting….that would hopefully be educational….and that we would remember. After searching through several web sites, I narrowed the options to five possibilities: The Wichita Art Museum, Treasures of the World, the Segwick County Historical Museum, the Botanical Gardens and Cow Town. Each of these venues offered attractive possibilities or something that fun and interesting. One of the major drawback of each one of these places was that each of them did not open until Noon on Sunday…..and each of them closed at 5:00. Depending on how much time we would spend at each venue, five hours is not a huge amount of time….especially when we added in travel time. At least, it was a starting point.

Fayez and I had arranged to meet at my motel at 2:30 on Saturday afternoon, July 27. In this particular case…..the Motel 6 in Park City, just north of Wichita. Armed with my suitcase and two days of clothing and the printouts of the five places we might visit, I started my journey about 11:00. I stopped and filled up with gasoline and bought a small bag of party mix to eat along the way. Eating helps me stay awake. As I picked up the turnpike ticket, I was more than a little apprehensive. For some reason, the ABS…anti-lock braking system…. light had come on in my car. It had been on at least a couple days. I was ninety percent certain that there was nothing wrong with the brakes. But, nevertheless, I harbored the fear in the back of my brain that something bad might happen.

Since I was staying in north Wichita, I got off the Kansas Turnpike at Emporia and headed west on US 50. US 50 is a pleasant seventy-five mile drive to Newton, where I picked up I-135. No doubt somewhere back in history I have driven US 50 through Strong City, Peabody, Florence…. But, if so, it was much too long ago to have any sort of recollection. The scenery was pretty…..maybe not as pretty as I had expected….but still the green hills and lush prairies were enough to keep my attention…. along with the party mix. I passed by the entrance to the National Flint Hills Grasslands, a place I have always intended to go, but never have. Also, I drove past the famous Strong City rodeo grounds…..famous to them, at least. US 50 is a two-lane highway, speed limit 65 mph, but traffic moves along at a fairly steady pace. First of all, there is not a lot of traffic. Second of all, there are passing lanes every few miles, so if I did got behind a slow car, at least there was an eventual opportunity to pass. But…. In almost every little town I passed by….not passed through….the city cop was sitting (what he thought to be) inconspicuously off on the side of the highway, trying to add a little money to the city’s general fund, I suppose. Either that, or he had nothing better to do….or he was fulfilling a life long dream of being powerful. Whatever it was, to me it was simply low-class. On the Saturday early afternoon that I was driving, the traffic was sparse. There few, if any, businesses along the highway. I do not remember seeing a single pedestrian along the entire highway. Fortunately, I saw each cop in time….and slowed down.

 

 

 

 

It was around 2:00 when I pulled into the parking lot of the Motel 6, just off I-135 in Park City. It looked very similar to the motel in the pictures. The motel was not a typical Motel 6. It is probably a motel they acquired from another hotel chain for a bargain price. Encouraging. There was nobody at the front desk…..and no bell to ring. I ask one of the housekeeping staff if there was a clerk around. She scurried off to find him. I had already paid the bill in advance, so checking in was quick and to the point.

“Where do we eat breakfast?” I asked?

“Oh…. Motel 6 doesn’t serve breakfast. That is one way they keep rental prices down,” the clerk said.

Uh, Oh….. I should have noticed that….but every motel serves breakfast. Well…. Except Motel 6, it appears.

“OK. We will just make a cup of coffee with the coffee machine in the room,” I said.

Some shuffling of the feet… “Oh….Motel 6 doesn’t have coffee makers in the room. That is another way they keep costs down.”

“Oh?” I said. “Where do we eat breakfast?”

“Oh, there are lots of places on down the highway.”

Now…. I was starting to remember why I never stay in a Motel 6.

I took the key cards and proceeded to the room. They did have an elevator! I opened the door…..and Yes, there was the chair I wanted….sitting right by the bed…..just like the picture. Great….. They got that right, at least.

I wanted to wash my hands and face. Where was the soap? And, for that matter…. Where were the little bottles of shampoo for the next morning?

Later I asked the girl at the front desk for some soap. She rummaged around in the room behind the desk and came up with a couple little bars. “Could I also have a little bottle of shampoo?”

You are already probably ahead of me by now….. “Oh, we don’t have any bottles of shampoo. That is another way Motel 6 keeps its costs down.”

I proceeded to wash my face…. Yes, they did have running water…… I reached for a towel. There were two of them…. They were no bigger than the towels I use to dry my dishes at home. No…. I didn’t even bother to ask for more towels.

I was in the bathroom when Fayez arrived. I was startled when somebody walked into the room. How did they get in? And… Who was it? I turned around to see Fayez standing there. “How did you get in here?” I asked.

“The door was open,” he replied. So…. Even the door didn’t close automatically. I wondered what else would…and could….go wrong. I made sure the door was closed….and locked

It was just about 2:30…..just about the time he said he would be there. At least, that was going right. He came, bringing a birthday cake….an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen, my favorite. The ice cream cake was beginning to morph into a giant mike shake. Without a lot of ceremony, we began to eat the cake. Fayez had thoughtfully brought a plate…one plate….from his apartment. I ended up eating cake off the plate. It was my birthday, after all. He ate his cake directly from the box. That meant he had the bigger piece! What can I say about a Dairy Queen cake? Dairy Queen ice cream is just plain good! I quickly finished my piece.

“Do you want another piece?” Fayez asked. Funny guy! Of course, I wanted another piece! (And, so did he.) I could have sat there and eaten the entire cake! But, I didn’t.

Fayez and I had a brief discussion on what to do with the cake that was left over….and it was more than half the cake. Fayez tried in vain to stuff it into the miniature, under-size freezer of the refrigerator. The freezer was too little….. Not only for the cake, but probably for anything else that might need to be frozen. We were left with two alternatives: Throw the cake away. (But where?) Or, leave it in the lower part of the refrigerator, and hope that it wouldn’t melt into a giant mess before the next day. Actually, there was a third choice. We could have eaten the rest of the cake….finished it off. Fayez turned up (what he hoped was) the thermostat of the refrigerator, and put it there.

Next came the birthday gift. Yes… I know you are surprised. He actually brought me a birthday gift. He presented me with a Wichita State University t-shirt. It is one size too small….but now I have an incentive to lose enough weight to wear it. So…. Two gifts in one! And, as always, my philosophy is: It is not the gift….but the thought behind the gift. I was pleased.

“What do you want to do now?” I asked. It was a rhetorical question. I was just being polite. I already knew the answer.

“Let’s take a nap,” was Fayez’s reply.

By this time it was approaching 3:30. Actually, a nap didn’t sound so bad. “What time do you want to wake up?” I asked.

“Five o’clock.”

“OK.” Sounded reasonable to me. When I opened my eyes again, it was almost 5:30. Now, that was a good nap.

“I’m hungry,” Fayez said. “Let’s go eat.”

We drove into town and wound our way through the streets of Wichita. I have no idea where we went. I did recognize, however, that we had arrived at the same restaurant where we went on the 4^th of July…..but on that day, it was closed.

The name of the restaurant was The Green Olive…..not to be confused with the popular restaurant chain, The Olive Garden, that makes a fortune from serving fake Italian food. Fayez told me this restaurant was owned by an Iraqi family. We were the only customers eating there at the time. The owner was obviously baby sitting his four young children that afternoon.

I ordered the meal that Fayez suggested….the same one he ordered. While we waited for the food to arrive at our table, we watched the little kids playing…alternately running around the restaurant and coloring or drawing pictures and laughing and talking. They were well behaved…..just active and obviously happy kids. A couple times one of the little girls came back to where we were sitting, the table closest to the door…. There was a door immediately to the side and a little bit behind me. She went into the room….came back out and said, “You can’t go in there.” I am not sure why she would think we would even want to. I wanted to ask her if that was where they kept their weapons stored…. But, I restrained myself. She probably would not have understood anyway.

 

 

 

 

Later in the evening, around sunset, we drove back into town….looking for a place where we could sit and relax and talk. This was a Saturday night….and all the popular night time hangouts were starting to fill up. It was a perfect evening for sitting outside…and apparently most people were thinking the same thing as we were. Fayez knows most of the popular places around Wichita. After finding that most of these places were filled to capacity, I was ready to settle for a place that maybe wasn’t quite as hip….a more out of the way place….somewhere less patronized by the younger, college-age crowd. Sometimes, the mere fact that there are lots of people does not necessarily mean that the quality is equal to its popularity.

A lot of people, and I think it is true especially of young people, go to bars to be “seen”, because other people go there, because it happens to be one of the “in” places at that particular time. Maybe this was true of the place we finally ended up choosing….. The Pump House Bar and Grill, located in the Old Town section of Wichita. It had a large outside sitting area….located on a corner, which made it seem even larger. As we approached the door, we were confronted by two security kids….maybe they were bouncers. Whoever they were, they demanded to see our identity cards…..and hand over a $5.00 cover fee.

You know….. I think this is the first time I have ever paid a cover charge to get into a bar. At least, I can’t recall another time. Why did I do it this time? I am not sure. Maybe if I had turned around and asked Fayez, we might had just shrugged our shoulders and left. We should have…. I will have to consider very seriously before I ever pay another cover charge. We paid for nothing…..

This bar…. The Pump House Bar and Grill….was nothing special. But… It was loud! Deafeningly loud. Normally, Fayez and I would have sat across from each other. There is no way this would have worked in this bar. Even sitting almost side by side, we could not hear each other talk over the din and noise of the loud voices assaulting us from all sides….except the sidewalk. Fortunately we were sitting next to the side walk. But…. That was almost as bad. Loud cars….loud motorcycles…. All driven by guys who felt they had something to prove….all needing some sort of attention….all trying to assert their non-existent masculinity.

Unfortunately my voice is not a piercing voice….and neither is Fayez’s voice. Our voices do not cut through the cacophony of sound like a knife cutting hot butter. The opposite was true of some of the females at a couple adjoining tables….as they strived to out-do each other in their inane, shallow and phony conversation….obviously designed to impress the no doubt equally shallow males who were with them…..and probably with the intention of getting a shot at some cheap sex later on in the evening.

Nevertheless, Fayez and I sat and attempted to carry on a conversation…. He drinking ice tea and I drinking beer. It was a valiant attempt on our part….but it was also a losing battle. After about an hour of shouting at each other….and then re-shouting the same questions in response to the blank looks we gave each other….we gave up on drove back to the Motel 6. At least, the Motel 6 was quiet…. Uncomfortable….but quiet.

I woke several times in the night. The first couple times I was not sure why. But, it finally dawned on me that I was getting uncomfortably warm. Before I went to bed, I had set the thermostat at 70 degrees…..or maybe 68. Fayez had objected strenuously, but I told him to simply put more covers on his bed. He would be OK…. He would survive. Even in my state of sleepiness, I realized that Fayez had gotten up during the night….and had turned up the temperature….to a degree just below the level of a hot sauna. I was much too sleepy to get out of bed…. So I merely threw off some covers….at the same time Fayez was adding some covers. Rather strange, don’t you think?

After waking up on Sunday morning, there was a slight problem. No breakfast. No coffee maker. Our choice: Skip breakfast. Yeah… Like that was ever going to happen. Or….. Go out for breakfast. Fayez wanted to eat breakfast at I-Hop. I couldn’t care less where we ate. After so eating so much food the previous evening, more food was not a high priority for me. I-Hop was fine…. It would probably be almost as good as the breakfast we would have had in the motel….if they served breakfast. Time was starting to creep by…..and it was already approaching late morning. Our meal at I-Hop would serve as both breakfast and lunch.

What is it about I-Hop? My theory is that people are simply sucked in by the advertising….by the name….by peer pressure. Every time I go to Hutchinson and visit my niece and nephew, I-Hop is always their choice….and their only choice….as a breakfast destination. I certainly have nothing against the restaurant. The food is good. But, the food….in my opinion….and for me, that is what counts….is no better or no worse than any other cafe or restaurant which serves breakfast. Maybe just a little more expensive! But….I was not going to argue. It just is not worth it. An egg is an egg. Toast is toast. Bacon is bacon. Coffee is coffee….. Let’s just go eat…..somewhere!

After we finished our delicious breakfast at I-Hop, it was time for the day’s entertainment….or education, depending on a person’s point of view. And…. Out of sheer necessity and practical reality….. That was my dominion. As I mentioned earlier, I had done some previous research and had selected five possible choices where we could spend our afternoon. You can go back and look at them, if you want to…..

Our first destination was the Wichita Art Museum. The museum is located near the Arkansas River. On an other occasion when we were sitting on a bench on the bank of the river watching it flow peacefully by, Fayez had pointed out the building that houses the Wichita Art Museum. It was an attractive building of modern design….not at all like an old, classic structure that I might have expected.

In inside what not exactly what we expected, either. The Wichita Art Museum is a sparkling new place with a surprisingly large volume and variety of art. The museum was founded in 1915 (according to another source, the museum was founded in 1935), and it has accumulated approximately 8000 individual art objects….paintings, pottery, furniture, sewing art, sculpture. The emphasis is heavily slanted toward American art….and traditional art, at that.

There are a few abstract paintings available for view. I was not surprised to find that there was a lack of abstract art. This seems to be true of almost every gallery or art museum we have visited in Kansas City, Lawrence….indeed around the entire Midwest. For some reason, the people who live in this area of the country are not enamored with the love of abstract art. The love of….or the appreciation of….abstract art has not found its way to the middle part of the nation. I have my own theories about why this may be true….but that best postponed until another time and blog.

 

 

 

 

 

The art which is on display is certainly top quality art. This is not a shabby place. Many of the artists are well known regional artists. On the other hand, there are paintings and sculptures by Edward Hopper, Charles Russell, Arthur Dove, John Singleton Copley and Georgia O’Keeffe. These are all artists whose art is displayed in the top art museums all around the world.

The painting…..and the artist….that I found to be most intriguing was “The Sunflowers” painted by John Stuart Curry. Curry is, for all practical purposes a “local artist”. He was born and lived in Dunavant, Kansas, an almost non-existent community which is about 5 or 6 miles straight east of my former home in Ozawkie. A local boy makes good, I suppose we could say. We can’t say as much for Dunavant, though. It has bit the dust, evaporated into the rear view mirror of history. There is not even a ghost town to carry on its memory. Just a few houses of what once was.

 

 

 

 

We had been walking and standing and looking for the better part of two hours before Fayez and I finished our tour of the art gallery. Two hours may seem like a long time, but in reality, we gave the museum only a cursory inspection. We could have easily spent a couple more hours there…and spent our time profitably. There was an entire sculpture garden that we didn’t even bother to look at. We were starting to get tired. We sat down in what appeared to be a lobby area….or perhaps a meeting area….for a brief rest. Hanging from the ceiling in front of us was a unique, colorful, multi-faceted sculpture that could have only been constructed by an artist of other unmistakable sculptures that Sultan and I had seen in a gallery somewhere in the southeast part of the USA on the trip we took in 2018. It could have been Charleston…but, on the other hand, it could have been in Asheville. But…. There was no mistake. I had seen works by the artist previously. And, I was pleasantly surprised to come across another one in Wichita, Kansas.

Both Fayez and I had enjoyed the time we spent at the Wichita Art Museum. We probably saw every painting that was on display….even if for only a few brief seconds or even a casual glance. We stopped and studied a few of them in greater detail…the ones we found captured interest or grabbed our attention. Fayez had his favorite paintings; I had mine. It was a good way to spend a couple hours…..and now it was time to move on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our next destination was a museum called Treasures of the World. As I was searching for places to visit in Wichita, I came across this museum. It was not one of my first choices. From the brief description I read online, I pictured it as a small….and maybe a somewhat insignificant…. museum….all located on one floor. It appeared to have some interesting exhibits, however. And, its exhibits were mostly of a more contemporary nature. By contemporary I mean events which have taken place in the last 100 years or so. Personally, I am not much interested in dinosaurs, old pottery, old bones….things like that. Yeah…. I know that some people really get into that kind of stuff… But, not I. I prefer something more recent….something I can more easily relate to. Treasures of the World seemed to be this kind of museum.

Fayez and had coincidentally driven past the museum on Saturday. So… We at least knew that it existed….and we knew approximately where it was located. The plan ….that is to say MY plan….was to look at the museum rather quickly and then move on to the Botanical Gardens. Like I said before, after looking at the museum’s web page, I was under the impression that it only covered one floor….and even that floor didn’t look very large.

Inside the museum was an entirely different world. The place was very large… Maybe not huge in the sense of the Smithsonian or something like that. But, it was infinitely larger than I had imagined it to be. It covered three entire floors. The advertisement I saw was no doubt just a sample of the first floor…..without mentioning the other two equally large floors.

Just like most other museums, Treasures of the World started its exhibits with the skeletons of some dinosaurs. I am not sure why museums feel almost obligated to do this. It just seems to be standard procedure. I am surprised that the art museum didn’t have a couple dinosaurs to greet us as we walked in….artfully arranged, of course. I don’t know….but I suspect it is to grab the attention of little kids at the first possible instant…..and hopefully, keep it for the remainder of the tour. As I said above, I am not a big fan….in fact, I am not a fan at all….of dinosaurs. I really couldn’t care less about them. This is probably the reason I did not even bother to take a picture of them. I should have. But, in lieu of a picture, just try to visualize your standard, run-of-the-mill dinosaur…and that is all you really need to do.

Fayez asked one of the museum employees if the bones were really real….if they were really authentic. She assured us that everything in the museum is the real thing….unless it is clearly marked as a copy or a representation. That was good information to know as we made our way through the museum exhibits.

There was a rather impressive exhibit of Buddhas…all of them the fat kind… And, Yes, there are skinny Buddhas. In fact, they probably existed even before the fat variety. On the first floor, the other exhibit that I was curious about…and eager to see….was a section of the Berlin Wall. Fayez wondered if it was authentic. I have no doubt that it is the real thing. Once the Berlin Wall began to come down back in 1989, sections of it were given to museums all over the world. The sections of the Berlin wall were in great demand, as would probably be expected. A section of the Berlin Wall is an artifact of important modern history….much coveted by museums large and small.

Even though I knew that the Berlin Wall display would only be a small segment of the wall, I was still a little disappointed. On almost every trip I have made to Berlin, a visit to the Berlin Wall is a priority. When the people of both East and West Berlin started demolishing the Berlin Wall, it came down quickly. First there were the eager beavers who chipped away at the solid concrete wall with hammers, chisels….whatever was available to “tear down this wall.” Later big construction machinery was brought in to expedite the process. The Wall was build in sections….and the machinery tore it down in sections. It was easier and more efficient to do it that way. It is these sections that are on display in museums and public places around the world.

 

 

 

 

When it was finished, the Berlin wall was 91 miles long….completely surrounding the city of Berlin and cutting it off from the rest of the Germany…..indeed from the rest of the world. So…..obviously there was a lot of wall to be given away. Most of the wall was probably just destroyed, however.

There are still a few sections of the Berlin Wall standing today. Fortunately, somebody in the West German government had the wisdom and the foresight to preserve a section of the Wall as a memorial. The national memorial, called the East Side Gallery, is a kilometer….a little over a half mile….of wall that still stands and is being maintained as a reminder of the horrors and the heartache of the wall’s existence.

 

 

 

 

Much of the museum’s exhibits relate to war in some manner. Perhaps this may be because artifacts from wars are relatively plentiful, having taken place in the comparatively recent past…..and are easier to obtain.

I was disappointed with the exhibition on the Vietnam War. This is one of our more recent “wars”, and I had expected just the opposite…..that the museum would be top heavy with artifacts and relics from the twenty or twenty-five years that the Unites States maintained a strong military presence there. There were a few items on display, but not enough to make it one of the significant attractions…..or even enough to warrant a photograph. Maybe they think is a war that is simply best forgotten. Who knows? Since this was the only war in which I was actively involved, I would have found it to be interesting and relevant…..and it would have given me something to pass on to Fayez.

Their emphasis was primarily on the First and Second World Wars. Yes, these are the two “great wars” of recent history….especially the World War II, which no doubt determined the course and direction of modern history. And…. These were also the two wars that we actually won. On display were displays of military uniforms used in each of the wars. Several examples of the weapons used in each of the wars were also exhibited. Interspersed among the uniforms and the weapons were a variety of documents from each of the periods: photos, maps, diaries, letters, examples of government propaganda. Although it was not exactly what one would call a comprehensive exposition….certainly not approaching the huge exhibits at the Eisenhower Museum or the Truman Museum….or ever the Kansas State Historical Museum….it did offer a slight glimpse into each of the wars….and hopefully remind today’s citizens what happens when people blindly follow ignorant and bigoted leaders who are themselves wanna-be dictators….and would slowly “charm” people into surrendering their rights as citizens. I hope it reminds them that as in Nazi Germany, every time the government takes a right away from one person or group of people, they are taking it away from everybody….even the people who may ignorantly and blindly support such action.

The other display that I found to be particularly interesting was a small, but impressive, selection of Nazi relics and paraphernalia. I often think that people look at such symbols of Hitler’s Nazi regime and have no idea of the cruelty and inhumanity associated with it. They do not stop and think….or maybe never even realized…..that this is a supreme example of people willingly surrendering their rights as citizens to a charismatic leader who turned out to be one of history’s most infamous dictators and who reigned over one of the darkest and bloodiest periods of world history. We study history so that we will not repeat history. These Nazi symbols could….and should….serve as a warning to all who look at them.

Probably the exhibit that I enjoyed the most was one that many others may have passed with hardly a glance…..because there were no statues, no bones, no art objects seized from tombs….and nothing dug up from graves or ancient civilizations. In fact, I am not sure that Fayez saw it. During some minutes when he was wandering ahead of me…..probably impatient to get out of there, I stopped to look at a collection of pictures of all the former presidents of the U.S.A. Each president has a picture, a short biography….and also some sort of token artifact containing a signature. Maybe a signed letter, a cartoon, or an invitation, or a menu…. Not much. But, being interested in politics, I found this to be one of the most interesting of all the exhibits. I can hardly wait to see what kind of relic they display for Trump….. Probably a signed copy of one of his lies. Maybe even more than one of them. There are more than enough to go around!

 

 

 

 

As we came to the end of our tour of the Treasures of the World Museum, I was ready to move on to the Botanical Gardens for a leisurely and peaceful walk. Fayez, however, was getting tired….and wanted to simply quite and call it a day I think that possibly I could have prevailed….except that it was approaching five o’clock. The Botanical Gardens and every other public building lock their doors at 5:00. That seems to be the magic hour when activity comes to a screeching halt, at least to any sort of publicly supported institution.

So…. Fayez won the battle by default. Our day of “sightseeing” and come to an end. Fayez could rest his weary feet. It had been almost six hours since we had eaten at I-Hop. Fayez was getting hungry…..and no doubt eager to get back to his laboratory or wherever his work was located. We began to look for a place to eat. Fayez wanted a place where we could sit outside. Yeah… That would be nice. But… Let’s not go back to the place we were so happy to leave last night.

We drove back to Old Town. Fayez decided we would eat at a place called Sabor Latin Bar and Grill. In contrast to the previous Saturday night, Old Town was virtually deserted….and peaceful, in contrast. The waitress seated us outside on the sidewalk, where we could sit and relax….and watch the sparse traffic drive by….and look at the occasional pedestrians out for a late afternoon stroll. The menu was rather conventional and nondescript….but at least, it was food. That was the important consideration. I ordered something…. I don’t even remember what it was. For an appetizer, we ordered plantain chips. Don’t worry, they are just an off-beat variety of bananas. They were good, though. It was a pleasant hour of relaxation….. The food was good, but forgettable….. I had a couple beers…. Not a bad way to end the day. Not a bad way….. Until the waitress laid the check on the table: $54.00!! Wow…. We should have gone to Golden Corral. But…. This is Wichita… This is Old Town…. This is the place to be…. So now…. Been there; Done that. It was time to come back home.

 

 

 

 

Fayez took me back to the motel. He posted a couple pictures on Facebook for me….and a short Thank You message for the birthday wishes I had received throughout my birthday. We finished off the birthday cake….which was remarkably well preserved in the refrigerator. Fayez gathered his stuff, such as it was, and headed back to his apartment. As for me….. I was another year old…. And, this year, I didn’t get a birthday cake smashed in my face

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