The Jesuit Class of 1968 held its annual holiday lunch in the usual place: the Court of Two Sisters. Its owner Joe Fein is one of us. I am not officially one of us, but I go every year anyway. Good turnout, around two dozen guys, with a dozen or so more sending in their regrets and salutations. We're in the home stretch now, with less than five years before our fiftieth regathering. So we have to keep in touch. The group seemed calmer than usual. A couple of guys have retired since last time. Two had major heart problems, but looked healthy enough. Nobody has passed since last year--or in quite a few years. I take the day off from the radio show for this party. Regardless of what time I'm on the air, it's no fun if I have to and make sense. We are giving to loud talking on the borderline of screaming, although it seemed that this had toned down a good deal. The strange thing about screaming is that the next day after doing a my voice takes on a nice timbre that I wish it had all the time. For talking, anyway. It's bad for a singing. Frank Sinatra was a victim of this as he became more of a party guy. The Court makes the best Sazeracs in town, and it's all but the official cocktail of our class. I had my two (in one glass, but that wasn't my doing), while others downs more than that. Lunch was in the Court's upstairs dining room. It began with a salad, whet through osso buco and butterbeans. I asked the waiter whether he could fetch a piece of fish for me. I feel the gout coming on, and osso buco has a record of triggering that ailment for me. The fish was trout (I think), pan-seared with a little butter. Nothing wrong with that. I spent most of the meal talking with Jay Baudier. He's a regular caller to the radio show, and a gourmet. He's also very funny, in a low-key way. We had a good time talking about wives. (Saying only the nicest things, of course.) Speaking of wives, Mary Ann was on the air hosting my show for me. I didn't want to listen to it--I'd rather not know how it went until she tells me at home. Usually she has a lively time, but not today. When the people don't want to call in, they don't. And she had no guests to interview--always a mistake.
