Secret Insurance

I needed garlic and cocoanut milk, and the grocery is near. I followed a couple, almost my age, our of the store. "Almost" allows for ten or fifteen years but, even so, they were in their sixties or seventies.

Like all of us who have achieved "a certain age", his posture was less an "!" than a "?". He wore socks and sandals, and shorts, but what was that under his untucked polo shirt? Perhaps a back brace?

No! He wore broad suspenders to hold up his shorts, under his shirt.

They were parked next to my pickup, but they got into their red Cadillac before I could tell whether he also wore a belt.

We are the Heartland, here! Stylish. Secure. A bit secretive.

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