I arrived early to The Society of the Four Arts and climbed the stairs to the room – filled with empty chairs – in which I was to speak. By the time I took the lectern, the room was almost full. I thanked everyone for coming, noting that it’s much more enjoyable talking to people than to chairs.
And it’s an even greater pleasure when your listeners are not only interested but interesting. During the question-and-answer period, one man – a former airline pilot – read a quote from Boswell’s On the Grand Tour. Afterwards, a woman approached and said that she had played tennis for the U.S. in Turkey. (I had mentioned the country during my talk.) I told her that I sometimes write about tennis, and that I had known Bud Collins.
“He was my doubles partner at the Longwood Cricket Club!” she said. “I live in Boston part of the year.”
I told her that I had gone to the memorial service for Bud last summer at Trinity Church on Copley Square.
“I was there!” she said.
