Lately young women smile at me, are friendly when I ask for help in finding an item in a store or seek directions for one reason or other.  Used to be, when I approached  young women they acted as if I was hitting on them. How did they know?

 But now?  Maybe it’s my shaggy gray beard. I usually get around to shaving every week or so but now, well maybe I’ll just let it grow.

I mentioned all of this to Nick Bancroft,  a buddy of mine, as we sat resting my legs at the mall the other day.

“You mean you don’t know?” he asked.

“Know what?”

“You’re harmless, that’s the reason they’re friendly. It’s like being friendly to an old dog when it wags its tail. How old are you anyway?”

“I’m only 84.”

“That’s about as harmless as you can get.”