June 12, 2025 • 44 mins
This week, we catch up with Jonathan's dad about the years since his appearance in our first ever episode — #1 Buzz. Buzz and Sheldon are brothers in their eighties who’ve been estranged for decades. Buzz visits Sheldon to see if there’s still a relationship left to salvage.
Credits
This episode was produced by Jonathan Goldstein, Wendy Dorr, Chris Neary, and Kalila Holt, with editing by Alex Blumberg and Peter Clowney. Special thanks to Caitlin Kenney, Starlee Kine, and Rachel Ward. The episode was mixed by Haley Shaw. Music by Christine Fellows and Haley Shaw. Our theme music is by The Weakerthans courtesy of Epitaph Records.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Pushkin. Hello, Khalila Holt, don't scare me like that. I'm sorry,
my god. Welcome to the studio.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
So now that we find ourselves at our new home
at Pushkin Industries.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Like you're reading it for the first time.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
We're celebrating some of our past accomplishments in the form
of encore presentations. Encore Ravisimo. Today we're going to be
listening to the very first Heavyweight. Yeah, an episode called
Buzz and it's.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
An episode that's personal to you.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
It's spoiler alert, Sorry, yes it is. It is Buzz
is my father.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
I really enjoy your dad. Whenever I get to hear
from him, it warms my heart.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Oh that's so nice. Yeah, my father has well I'm
not going to say that my wife married me because
of my father, but I'm sure it didn't hurt because
she's a very big Columbo fan Peter Falk, and my
father sounds a lot like he's of that generation. In fact,
he would have grown up in Brooklyn around the same
time as Peter Falk. But anyway, Yeah, this was the
(01:25):
blueprint for Heavyweight. And it was out of this episode
that I thought maybe I could use my powers of
interlocution to help others as I was helping my family,
why not spread the wealth?
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Yeah, you thought I'm so good at this that I
got to do more.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
When you have mammoth gifts like that, I mean you
have a responsibility to share it.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
So well, without further ado.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Let's listen to the episode and stick around after for
an update from your dad.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
But first, oh, but first, a word from our sponsors.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Thank you sponsors, Miss Holt.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Before you go, if I could just ask you one
more thing. That's very interesting that you wear combs Ye
from Gimblet Media. This is Jonathan Goldstein, your old pal.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Is that is that was called Gimblet Gimblet Media.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
That's correct. It sounds like giblets, the inside of a chicken,
like all the innerds. Well, everybody loves giblets.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
You, oh ship, they're my kids.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Hey guys, I'm up here. Do you know what my
new podcast is about. I know, I don't know anything
about it. Each week, I travel into people's pasts to
help them repair something that's been troubling them.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
M hmm.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
I'm sort of like a therapist, like a therapist, So yeah,
do you find out? Do you find that funny? I supportive.
That's the laughter of support.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
I think it's great.
Speaker 5 (03:03):
I think it's great.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Do you have any questions for me about what my
show is and what it's going to be, Like, what's
the name of your show?
Speaker 4 (03:11):
What's the name of your show?
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Yes, we're gonna go now, but Johnson's just about tell
me the name of his new show. As soon as
he tells me, I'm going to bang down on him
in five.
Speaker 4 (03:20):
Remember to do that.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Yes, to hang up the phone on each other. Okay, ready, Yes,
the name of the show is Heavyweight, Heavyweight, you get it?
Speaker 6 (03:30):
Two one.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
Hello.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Hello from Gimblet Media. I'm Jonathan Goldstein and this is
Heavyweight Today's episode.
Speaker 7 (03:47):
Buzz.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
Hello, Hey Dad, Hi Johnny.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Hey, how you doing good?
Speaker 4 (03:55):
You good?
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Good?
Speaker 4 (03:57):
Good? Yum Tivova, what's that?
Speaker 1 (04:02):
I'm not sure? This is my father, Buzz. I'm calling
him at his home in Montreal. And the reason we're
talking crazy talk is because it's young Kipper the Jewish
day of Atonement, which seems as good a day as
any to talk with him about forgiveness. So I wanted
to I wanted to ask you something and I just
(04:24):
wanted to gauge your interest. Yeah, how would you feel
about paying your brother Sheldon a visit.
Speaker 4 (04:33):
I have no feelings, die, I'm not really interested.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
You're not no. My father, Buzz is eighty and his brother, Sheldon,
his only sibling, is eighty five, and for the past
forty years they've pretty much been on the outs. My
father lives in Montreal and Sheldon lives in Florida, and
the last time they saw each other over twenty years ago,
(04:59):
was at their mother's funeral when they had a fight
over the details of the arrangements. Since then, they've hardly spoken.
It worries me because there's no not a lot of
time left, and I don't want my father to have regrets.
When the subject of his brother comes up, as it
often has over the years, my father feels competing things.
He grows angry or defensive, but other times he'll become
(05:22):
sad and remorseful. And it's the sorrow and the remorse
that I like best, because it's these feelings that I
believe speak to his better self, the self I want
to encourage. I'm not surprised that you're not jumping at
the idea, but I'm a little surprised that yours against
the idea Yeah.
Speaker 4 (05:40):
Time's passed. He hasn't shown much interest, so I'm respecting
that and I leave alone.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
What he did do was he he called you on
your eightieth birthday not so long ago, and you.
Speaker 4 (05:53):
Felt good about it to him on his eightieth birthday.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
This kind of tit for tat accounting is what always
gets in the way. There's been a competition between the
brothers since I was a kid. I remember how in
my grandmother's small New York kitchen, Sheldon and Buzz got
into an argument who could do the most push ups,
and the next thing I knew, my father was pulling
off his shirt and dropping to the kitchen floor in
his undershirt. My mother, not used to seeing the side
(06:19):
of him, stood over my father, flapping a dishtowel hysterically
while begging him to the point of tears to please stop.
Now you go, my father said, rising from the floor
when he was done. But Sheldon shook his head with
a smile. It was like he didn't even think my
father was worth the effort.
Speaker 4 (06:38):
You know what it is at this point with him,
I'll tell you what it is. I don't think it's
even anger. He's past anger, and he's passed any feelings
of animosity. He's passed that. He just doesn't care. Yeah,
you know that's apathy. I mean, sometimes at least hate
or love their emotions. Apathy is nothing.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Yeah, you know what.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
Johnny as a child, even when I was ten, when
I was nine, and I was crazy about him. We
had a great you know, I loved him. He was
the older brother.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
He was hello, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm listening.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
Uh, you know. I just looked up to him, and
he had older friends. Sometimes he'd take me along with
him and he was good. Hey, somebody trying to somebody
trying to call here, binging.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Me here, don't you see, Buzz? It's father time? Who
is bringing you here? And Buzz loses track of time.
Air Conditioners remain boxed all through July, and expired coupons
from the mid nineties make plump his wallet, So I
worry he'll put off reaching out to Sheldon until it's
too late. The most complicated question, the one I keep
(07:52):
coming back to, is how did the bad blood begin?
And there are many versions. An ill fated trip to Montreal,
where Sheldon felt slighted about having to stay in my
father's basement, an ill fated trip to New York, where
my father felt slighted about having to stay in Sheldon's
attic rude word spoken to each other's wives. In one
version of the story, Sheldon's refusal to bring a table
(08:14):
to my brisk almost resulted in my being circumcised on
an ironing board. But in the version being told today,
my father was asked by Sheldon to pay more than
his fair share for their mother's funeral, and I.
Speaker 4 (08:26):
Said, you always working some kind of an angle. So
he got furious. He got furious. He started screaming into
the phone, go to hell, drop dead, bah bah bayh.
And was that was how that ended. But I feel
he's the kind of guy that the gun. He has
angles like that, you know, he has angles. I always
(08:47):
felt I was on the up and up with him
and he wasn't with me.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
If you've got a stronger sense that he was interested
in seeing you, then would you.
Speaker 4 (08:57):
Yes, yes, you would be my g I wouldn't play
the house though, that's out of the question.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Okay, quick sidebar. Anytime I've ever raised the prospect of
visiting Sheldon, no matter how hypothetical the scenario, my father
always makes a point of insisting how no matter what,
he would not stay in Sheldon's house, even if he
was invited to, which I should point out he never is.
Speaker 4 (09:20):
I wouldn't stay at his house. How come you I
wouldn't stay there? I mean, not my thing?
Speaker 1 (09:27):
How come you always bring that up? I mean, normally,
when someone goes to visit someone that they haven't seen
in decades, don't stay at a hotel, you.
Speaker 4 (09:35):
Know, I would stay at a motel or somewhere near hetel.
Speaker 8 (09:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
No, we'd get a place, you know, with an ice machine.
Speaker 4 (09:41):
And uh, you know why you want to You're interested
in making a trip.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
I mean, I'm interested. Do you think that there's anything
to be gained in seeing him?
Speaker 3 (09:57):
Hm?
Speaker 4 (10:00):
I guess there's something. Then, you know, you share your
common experience and talk about the old days, and there
are things that only he and I I can remember,
you know, yeah, you know you What you could do
is you could call him and see what what what
what his attitude is? You know, it depends on you,
(10:20):
know how how, how how you feel, what kind of
receptions you get?
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Yeah, I mean I would. I would be happy to
do that.
Speaker 4 (10:29):
I like your initial suggestion that you call him feel
him out and see what he's like.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Okay. I didn't suggest that, but you you suggested that.
Speaker 4 (10:39):
Yeah. I like that just because you'll give me an
honest you'll give me an honest reaction.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
I'm happy to do it. But I mean, what, what
what are you looking for from? From? What do you
want to hear from him?
Speaker 4 (10:51):
I missed my brother. I would like to see him. Okay,
that's all. Okay, you understand, and you come back on
me with an honest evaluation.
Speaker 9 (11:11):
Hello, Sheldon, Yeah, speaking hi that it was quite a
shock getting your phone call, you said, Johnath. Yeah, my
hearing is not that great, okay. And when I heard
the first message, I'm saying, who the heck is that?
I don't know anybody by that name.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Sheldon now lives outside of Fort Lauderdale, but my few
memories of him are from when he lived in upstate
New York. I remember he lived in a trailer. I
remember that he worked at a local prison, that he
smoked cigars, that he looked a little like my father,
but was hunched, like the world was weighing down on him.
And he always wore this expression on his face that
seemed to say, you gotta be kidding me. You're keeping okay,
(11:57):
you're keeping occupied.
Speaker 9 (11:59):
Yeah, I read a lot. I going to gym. I
go shopping. Hi, you know, here and there, little things
here and there, and so.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
You still go. How often you go to.
Speaker 9 (12:11):
The gym three times a week?
Speaker 4 (12:15):
Wow?
Speaker 1 (12:15):
And what kind of stuff do you do there?
Speaker 7 (12:18):
Well?
Speaker 9 (12:18):
I do about twenty minutes of aerobics, uh huh, and
then I do a little weight training. I try to
flirt a little with the women there.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Oh yeah, my father also goes to the gym. That's
a part of his routine. Also, he was happy to
hear from you on his eightieth birthday.
Speaker 8 (12:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 9 (12:45):
Well he didn't call me on my eighty fifth though.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Tit meet tat Yeah, like, so, you know, maybe we
could go out for dinner. I don't know that kind
of thing.
Speaker 9 (13:01):
Uh huh. Well, what kind of time frame are we
talking about here?
Speaker 7 (13:18):
I don't know.
Speaker 10 (13:20):
Our lives have been much different. I don't know how
much we have to have in common anymore.
Speaker 7 (13:27):
Yeah, we don't have We don't have much in common
anymore except the fact that we're elderly and retired.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
Other than that, I.
Speaker 10 (13:39):
Don't know what we have in common.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
You have your past in common?
Speaker 10 (13:45):
Yes, I'll tell you honestly, I'm not a very sentimental person,
and I think, and I being a pragmatist, I take
things the way they are. I try not to dwell
upon the past, and I try not to take people
(14:09):
the way I remember them, but as they are.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Do you think that makes things easier, makes.
Speaker 10 (14:19):
Things easier for me?
Speaker 1 (14:21):
Yeah? Do other people around you? Sometimes? Doesn't make it
harder for other people around you ever.
Speaker 10 (14:33):
To be honest with you, I've been in the last
few years, I've been a loner. You would basically almost
call me a recluse. I don't socialize with many people,
and I really don't give a damn what anybody thinks.
Speaker 4 (14:55):
Yeah, and.
Speaker 10 (15:00):
Contrary to popular believe, I like being alone by myself.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
I get along with myself. Well yeah, look, I don't
want to be rude. Yeah, yeah, but I want to
go have my lunch.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, that's fine. It's fine, Sheldon. I
appreciate your talking to me, and you would be amenable
to spending some time.
Speaker 10 (15:29):
Why not. We are brothers.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
I mean, we're not closer or anything, but.
Speaker 10 (15:35):
You know, we're not going to have a chance to
see each other much in the future.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Yeah, is that anything that you think about.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
Not much now.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
And so I call my father back and let him
know that Sheldon is amenable. And because I know that
for my father the days tend to pile up like
unboxed air conditioners, I have my mother get on the
phone to help nail down a firm travel date and
Dad he wants to go, if Dad wants to go,
if he wants.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
To go next weekend.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
We don't have to go on the weekend. We can
go during the week.
Speaker 4 (16:20):
Yeah, comes, as you know, you caught me off. God,
how about it. I'll call you Wednesday or Thursday.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
How's that today's Monday or yeah, or even if you
feel like calling tomorrow, you can call me.
Speaker 4 (16:38):
Yeah, okay, I'll probably I'll call you at the latest Thursday, to.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
Get the Thursday at the latest, that's three days from today. Okay,
all right, you do what you want to do.
Speaker 4 (16:56):
You call me, but I'll call you a Thursday.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
Coming up after the break Thursday. And so on Thursday,
possibly with a little nudging for my mother, Buzz agrees,
And then my father and I are off to Florida
to visit my uncle Sheldon too.
Speaker 5 (17:18):
And then you have an address, Yeah, I do Okay.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
My dad and I meet up at the Fort Lauderdale Airport.
I flew from New York and my dad from Montreal.
My father's all dressed up, wearing a faux Swaede sports
jacket that I've never seen him in. We grab our
airport rental and prepare for the two hour drive to
Sheldon in the ninety degree heat. It's immediately made clear
that faux swayed might not have been the best fashioned choice.
Speaker 5 (17:43):
It's like we're on a safariy.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
You on the road to Sheldon's. My father will experience
a spectrum of feelings as we first set out. There's excitement.
Speaker 5 (17:55):
You know, my brother was funny in a lot of ways.
Speaker 4 (17:57):
I could laugh.
Speaker 5 (17:58):
We're gonna have laughed with him, you know what I mean.
He's a very funny man.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
A half an hour in and there's bitterness.
Speaker 11 (18:05):
We invited him to your baments and he returned a
very cold calld. Sorry we will not be attending, you know,
so mean, you know what I mean? Even the writing.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
An hour in and how is Buzz feeling?
Speaker 4 (18:21):
I'm relaxed.
Speaker 5 (18:22):
I'm kind of old to get anxious, you know what
I mean?
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Half an hour to Sheldon's a.
Speaker 5 (18:27):
Little bit apprehensive.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
Now, yeah, ten minutes to Sheldon's and buzzes feeling all right, Yeah,
he's feeling a little.
Speaker 5 (18:39):
Uh No, it's gonna be strange.
Speaker 6 (18:41):
Yeah, it's gonna be very strange. I mean the man
is a stranger to me now, and yet he's my brother.
Speaker 8 (18:48):
You understand.
Speaker 6 (18:48):
It's a very strange feeling.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (18:53):
I wonder if he's getting nervous, maybe because he's waiting
for us, right, yeah, yell set yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
Oh it's hot, it's really hot. Sheldon lives in the
corner house on a quiet suburban street ring the bell.
Speaker 8 (19:19):
I guess is this his door?
Speaker 1 (19:24):
I'll double check maybe because there.
Speaker 12 (19:26):
Is, Yeah, thank you, I smell the good smell of cigar.
Speaker 8 (19:44):
There had become a monk may.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
And after all the years and the worry and the dread,
things seem to be going swimmingly. We sit down at
Sheldon's kitchen table and my father gets right into it.
Speaker 8 (19:57):
Now, there's things I want to know.
Speaker 5 (19:59):
You said that Rainy died.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
The dead are a good place to begin as a subject.
They're easily agreed upon and not likely to spark a fight.
Speaker 8 (20:09):
The uncle died, The uncle died. He was the youngest brother. Oh,
he died long ago.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
He died.
Speaker 8 (20:15):
Oh you know who died, real prick.
Speaker 5 (20:20):
Yeah, I didn't know him that well, he didn't know Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
Nish.
Speaker 8 (20:27):
Shocking. Yeah he was fat.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
He was fat, red head.
Speaker 8 (20:30):
Red head right, yeah yeah.
Speaker 5 (20:35):
Remember remember Johnny, Johnny was a sax man.
Speaker 8 (20:37):
Ye, Johnny, he would fuck a dog on the street
if you sort of dog. He tried to fuck the dog.
Can I get you guys a cold beer?
Speaker 5 (20:51):
I'd like a beer, olive beer.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Even though they're in their eighties, Sheldon and buzz Stop
possessed voices and temperaments suited to shouting out Brooklyn tenement windows. Well,
my voice, olive beer is best suited to asking a
waitress if there will be a sharing charge. I forgot
about that.
Speaker 8 (21:11):
Sorry.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
Case in point this is Sheldon accidentally swiping a portable
microphone receiver off the kitchen table and me trying to
smooth things over.
Speaker 8 (21:20):
This off. Well, it's annoying.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
You just put it in the in your pocket there.
Speaker 8 (21:25):
Just take it off, please, thank you.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
Over the next couple of days, my testes will flee
like frightened cockroaches, upward, ascending to heights not seen since
the bar Mitzvah that Sheldon was not attending. And while
we're on the subject of testes, here's Sheldon reminiscing about
the time he was examined for a rupture by their
family doctor.
Speaker 8 (21:48):
Me and Wilie Rosen were joining the weightlifting Yep, say
you how to be tested for a rupture? Hey, I
remem being put his hand onto my balls. I started
left and so hot, I pissed right in his hand.
Speaker 4 (22:05):
Hey.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
Over the years, I've seen my father in the role
of husband, uncle, and grandfather, but I've never really seen
him in the role of younger brother. How odd to
see it now at eighty he sits beside Sheldon with
this expression I've never seen on his face. It's wide eyed,
sweet and deferential. But as the day wears on, Sheldon
(22:30):
and Buzz began to squabble over their memories, fighting over
every little detail.
Speaker 5 (22:35):
Remember the hallabaloo we had with the diet, head diet.
That heavy set girl a manicurist. She was a head
dying manicurist. No, she was a head dying. Here's what happened.
She went over to Earth.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
They even argue over the death of their grandmother.
Speaker 5 (22:49):
I have found her body. My mother was across the
street a Greenborough. I remember walk and I knew she
was dead. I never saw a dead body of my life,
but I knew she was dead.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
Sure, so wait till you found her, or you found her.
Speaker 5 (23:06):
I remember looking in on the room and see how
I said it was awfully I found them.
Speaker 8 (23:10):
But let him no, I'm not some credit.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
The whole afternoon is like this. Every subject, even their
dead grandmother, somehow becomes fodder for another pissing match. They're
burning up all this time with small talk, when what
they need is some big talk. In particular, they need
to address a story that I know who. It's a
great deal of meaning for my father. It took place
in nineteen thirty nine, on the day their mother left them.
(23:40):
I've only ever heard the story from my father, never
from Sheldon. I wanted to ask what you remember, what
your perspective?
Speaker 8 (23:48):
Well, I remember that time was when Pop was smacking
Iran and she ran out in the hole in her
slip fighting in the hole, he was smacking around. She
ran out. Yeah, so what happened the next morning?
Speaker 5 (24:05):
The next morning, Yeah, look in a closet, her clothes
were gone.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
Oh, what happened? After this, and my father's telling is
that his mother returned soon after she left with a
policeman in tow.
Speaker 5 (24:19):
And they came back to try to get you.
Speaker 8 (24:22):
They wanted you to come back with them, and where
were you? I was there, but they were trying to
drag you out of the house.
Speaker 5 (24:33):
You weren't trying to grin Now, no, no, I can say,
with my father and grandma.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
And mother, this is the point of the story. For
my father, It proves once and for all how his
mother loved Sheldon more than she loved him. Sheldon didn't
move out with her, and after a year their mother returned,
and together Buzz and Sheldon grew up under the same
roof in the same bedroom, often sleeping under the same blankets,
(24:59):
each knowing who the mother had chosen, and each having
to do their best to carry on and live life
with the burden of that knowledge. A couple times during
the day I asked them why they haven't spoken in
(25:20):
so long, and they both insist, maybe out of embarrassment,
that they do talk, just not often. But it isn't true.
In fact, my father learned of Sheldon's wife's death many
years after the fact, and then only from me. Sheldon's
daughter got in touch through Facebook and we made a
phone date where she caught me up on her life
(25:41):
in Sheldon's and a few nights later, while over at
my parents for dinner, I told my father of his
sister in law's death. There was a terrible look that
fell across his face, one of sadness, but something else too,
maybe shock over just how far he and Sheldon had drifted.
I found out about Judy, about her death, your wife.
Speaker 8 (26:06):
I didn't know about it either until you told me. Yeah,
didn't I tell you? You didn't know about her? No, we
didn't know. We didn't know she was sick about two years. Yeah, Judy, Well,
when she got the diagnosis, she was already stage four.
(26:32):
What did I know about cancer? So the surgeon, so,
he said, So, I said, well, doctor, how did the
surgery go? I always show you. I went very well.
But the cancer is in her liver. Now, I was spreading.
I said, it's in he'll liver. I said what? And
(26:55):
on top of that, I'm driving home, I'm all fucked up,
and I'm Space style and my driver windows open, and
some kids pull up alongside me and flip a lit
cigarette into my car you know where I usually, I commented,
(27:22):
buy myself on the ball. They got a waitress there
who always waits on me. He takes Cook.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
Canady for dinner. Sheldon takes us to a local outback steakhouse.
As people walk by, he provides a running commentary of
an elderly couple.
Speaker 8 (27:39):
Don't get like that couple. Whatever you did, it's time
for the execution.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
Of an overweight couple.
Speaker 8 (27:48):
People are fat.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
It's as though he's sharpening his with readying it for
the main event. Teasing my dad about Canada.
Speaker 8 (27:57):
I don't know how you could take Canada on your life.
Speaker 5 (28:01):
So you got nice neighbors, it's nice, It's okay.
Speaker 4 (28:05):
Uh.
Speaker 8 (28:06):
I wasn't gonna say, you're living in the same.
Speaker 11 (28:08):
Place about thirty five, thirty eight years something like that.
Speaker 8 (28:14):
I'm happy here. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
For my father, I know this is a touchy subject,
believing as he always has, that Sheldon looks down on
him for the dinkiness of his Canadian life and home.
It's like a constant reminder of just who is second best. Later,
my father will repeat Sheldon's words. You're still living in
that same place, He'll say, for how many years? But
(28:38):
just then I watch my father clench and unclench his
jaw as he does when he is brooding. I know
he's trying to take the high road, trying not to
ruin the evening what.
Speaker 8 (28:48):
Two hundred dollars and thirty cent said, I kidd.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
Sheldon invites us back to his place for cookies, but
my father says he isn't up for it. Thank you,
And as we walk through the restaurant parking to the car,
my father is silent. I find myself feeling protective of him.
(29:14):
After midnight, lying awake in our hotel, my father insisted
we stay at one. I lay in bed thinking about
that day in nineteen thirty nine when my grandmother came
back for Sheldon, not my father. For my father, not
only did it push him away from Sheldon, making him
feel jealous and resentful, but it also cast a shadow
over the rest of his life, causing him to always
(29:35):
feel passed over. He's mellowed with age, but as a kid,
I saw it come out in all kinds of ways,
always sensitive to slights, ready for a fight at the
smallest perceived defense. I wonder if there's a different way
for my father to see things, if there is the
only living person in this world who can help is Sheldon.
When their mom left, Sheldon was nine, my father five.
(29:59):
Sheldon would have understood a lot more than my father. Yesterday,
Buzz and Sheldon talked like a couple of kids who
used to play stickball in the old neighborhood. Today, if
me and my big fat meddling yap have any sway,
they'll have a chance to talk as men, as brothers
even because if not. Now when day two, this.
Speaker 5 (30:30):
Is a damn good cigar, he well, Dominican Republican. They
make a damn good cigar in Dominical Republic.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
Despite the difficulties of last night, the coin is flipped
back to the good side. Sheldon offers my father a cigar,
and with a cigar, some cigar talk, some pretty foul
cigar talk.
Speaker 8 (30:47):
We're riding Mount Queens Boulevard. Johnny's in the back seat
with the whole He's got his naked ass up in
the air and he's hum Well, the funny thing is
we had to stop for a light and there's a
truck driver sitting in the cab bump high.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
So if you guys missed each other, what do you
miss each other?
Speaker 8 (31:17):
You know? He asked the weirdest question, what is he abroad?
Speaker 1 (31:23):
No, I mean, I don't know. That's you know, eager
to prove to my uncle Sheldon that in spite of
the fact I'm wearing my wife's travel deodorant, I am
indeed not abroad. I allow them to return to more
pressing matters. They're prostates, that said Jesus.
Speaker 8 (31:38):
He says, your prestate feels like the moon craters in there.
He said. I said, thank you, doctor, complimenting.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
So if I could steer this away from the prostrates,
and so my father said that it's significant to him
to have come. What do you say?
Speaker 8 (31:56):
I agree with whatever he said?
Speaker 1 (31:58):
But what about you?
Speaker 8 (31:59):
I said, I agree with whatever he said. Do you
want to written?
Speaker 1 (32:04):
I know it feels like I'm getting a taste of
what growing up with Sheldon have been like. So again
I make my move. So I have some questions just
about because the stories that I know from my father.
But I'm curious what your take is because you were older,
do you remember what was going on when your mom
(32:29):
when your mother left? Originally like what, what?
Speaker 8 (32:33):
Why?
Speaker 1 (32:34):
And what was going on?
Speaker 8 (32:35):
Didn't you cover this ground before yesterday?
Speaker 1 (32:39):
But from my father's perspective, the way I understood it
was always you were the favorite. Did you did you
feel that way? At this point, Sheldon's face suddenly softens.
Speaker 8 (32:50):
I always felt that I got the short end of
the stick.
Speaker 5 (32:54):
Yeah, but you have You were kind of a favorite
with my mom.
Speaker 8 (32:59):
Yeah. Maybe with mom, of course maybe. Temperamentally we were
closer than I was with my father. My father never
a me spit. Did you ever get any money from
my father? I can't remember. You never got a line? Now,
I can't remember you never One time I sprained my
(33:21):
ankle so bad. That was that was terrible. I laid
in that bed my hand. He was He says to me,
you lazy bum. Yeah. Man, he went off on me
that time.
Speaker 5 (33:36):
He took Sheldon once Sheldon happened to say the word fuck.
Speaker 8 (33:41):
He came in with that fucking strap, swinging with.
Speaker 5 (33:46):
The bucket, and you know, I can understand leaving a
feeling of resentment and dislike.
Speaker 8 (33:52):
Hey, yeah, that was his way of communicating with us.
Smack smack, and then what a way.
Speaker 1 (34:02):
Yeah it was easier on you.
Speaker 5 (34:03):
You think, Uh, it wasn't that easy. But he was
tough on Sheldon.
Speaker 8 (34:08):
Was I know, Oh, you were closer to him than
I was a lot of things that went on. You
didn't understand really well it did going on, so you
had a different take.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
Well, are you surprised.
Speaker 8 (34:21):
By But I was a kid. I didn't understand it.
Speaker 1 (34:24):
But you didn't know that Sheldon was getting it so bad.
In Buzz's telling, their father was always a more or
less benign, childish figure, incapable of expressing his feelings and
so given to temper tantrums. For Buzz, it was their
mother who was the manipulator, the woman who played the
brothers off each other. But hearing Sheldon's take, it sounds
(34:47):
like maybe their mother didn't come to take Sheldon because
she loved him best, but simply because he needed more
protecting from their father. For the first time during our trip,
I can see my father considering Sheldon's point of view,
(35:07):
actually taking it in. I know it's intense for him
because he can't even meet Sheldon's eyes. Instead, he looks
at me, addresses his comments to me.
Speaker 5 (35:18):
You know, it said that my father had such a
negative impact on him, you know, just awful because he
had so much going for me. He was a wonderful son.
He worked hard, he was a good boy.
Speaker 8 (35:30):
He went to school talking like I'm a failure in life. No,
you aren't a fail. That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 5 (35:36):
You weren't a faith But all I'm saying is that
emotionally he left an impact on you.
Speaker 8 (35:41):
It took a long time for me to get out
of that emotion. And now I'm at peace to myself.
I can talk about him and laugh about it. Yeah,
now I want peace quiet. I'm happy living by myself.
(36:03):
Are you lonely, Sheldon?
Speaker 5 (36:05):
No? No.
Speaker 1 (36:11):
The last time my father saw my grandfather in full health,
my dad was visiting from Canada. My grandfather asked my
father to drive him to the cemetery to visit his parents' grave,
and once there, my grandfather wept inconsolably. Later that day
he would succumb to a stroke and shortly after be
moved to a nursing home. With Sheldon being more local,
(36:33):
the burden of my grandfather's care fell mainly to Sheldon.
It seems like a lot of the family's burdens fell
to Sheldon.
Speaker 5 (36:41):
They put a lot of responsibility on him, that my
dad should have been taking that responsibility and he shouldered that.
Speaker 8 (36:49):
Well, who is going to take Carria, who is going
to take you to school? Meet you? I remember one
time I was later or something. You stood outside that
right I said, mousy, I'm here, I'm here. He was
good to meet a lot of times me. You know,
you were my older brother.
Speaker 5 (37:10):
He used to knock the shit out of me sometimes,
but you know that's the way it is with brothers.
Speaker 8 (37:17):
Well, yeah, I was good in some way some way
that I was mean? Who was not?
Speaker 5 (37:22):
Who is not?
Speaker 8 (37:24):
Who is not?
Speaker 1 (37:25):
So if you feel like you were compelled to see
each other now because you knew that, you know it's
an hour and never kind of thing, then it means
that it was important to you both right to see
each other.
Speaker 8 (37:40):
You want to take that sure?
Speaker 5 (37:41):
I'm easy answer, yes, yes, because we're not getting any younger.
I mean, what's down the road.
Speaker 8 (37:50):
I'm eighty he's eighty five.
Speaker 5 (37:53):
I mean because there was a lot of water under
the bridge and we want to close that bridge.
Speaker 8 (37:57):
Now.
Speaker 5 (37:58):
I want to feel easy. Now, I want to say,
now he's going to be eighty six, I want to
call him on his birthday and say happy birthday to him. Now,
I'm not going to stand any fucking ceremonies anymore.
Speaker 1 (38:08):
As my father speaks as per his brother's example, dropping
f bombs like he's in a Guy Ritchie film. Sheldon
keeps his arms crossed and his eyes shut tight. He's
quiet for several seconds, and then he reaches out to
pet his cat.
Speaker 8 (38:22):
Should I leave you at a cat in my will?
If anything happened.
Speaker 5 (38:25):
If anything out, I'll take care of the cat.
Speaker 8 (38:28):
I'll take care of the cat.
Speaker 5 (38:31):
I'm happy I can't to see you.
Speaker 8 (38:32):
That I am. I'm happy it came here. That's good,
very good. Wherever I want to buy a house.
Speaker 1 (38:45):
When it's time to leave, Sheldon walks us outside, but
before we get into the rental, he points across the
lawn to his neighbor's house. He tells my father that
it's for sale, and then he tells him the asking price,
and my father says that doesn't sound bad at all,
and Sheldon says that, what with Canada being so bloody cold,
my father should consider moving to Florida, and my father
(39:07):
says maybe he will. They don't get too emotional, they
don't even hugo by. They just shake hands. And with that,
it feels like Buzz has forgiven Sheldon, and Sheldon has
forgiven Buzz all right.
Speaker 8 (39:21):
You take care of sankot this. Thank you, Yeah, thank you,
we'll speak. I'll speak.
Speaker 4 (39:38):
Turn right on northwest, mad for drawing.
Speaker 8 (39:41):
Oh my god, it feels so different now.
Speaker 5 (39:43):
Do you know that this has taken a lot off
my shoulders idea?
Speaker 1 (39:49):
You know, as we ride to the airport, my father
says that the thought of Sheldon all alone in that
house with just a cat makes him sad. Do you
really think he isn't lonely? My father asks. I assure
him that Sheldon seems okay with being alone, But my
father doesn't seem so sure. After all these years, the
(40:09):
burden of having lost his brother has been replaced by
a new burden, one that might be heavier to bear
(40:55):
now that the Fernuers returned to its goodwill home, now that.
Speaker 4 (41:05):
The last month's rent is skeeting.
Speaker 1 (41:08):
With damage to pot take this moment to deced.
Speaker 5 (41:15):
If we if we too felt from from the.
Speaker 1 (41:24):
Things an accident And so you know why I wanted
to talk to you.
Speaker 5 (41:32):
Yeah, I know you wanted to talk to me, but
you know about what I have no idea.
Speaker 1 (41:39):
So I wanted to revisit. Do you remember the story
that I made about you and your brother? Sheldon.
Speaker 8 (41:45):
Sure.
Speaker 1 (41:46):
Oh yeah, back then you were in your I think
you were eighty and I think Sheldon was eighty four
or eighty.
Speaker 5 (41:54):
Five, right right right, Yeah, I was eighty.
Speaker 1 (41:58):
You just turned ninety Yeah, yeah, December. Did you get
a phone call from Sheldon?
Speaker 5 (42:06):
Yes, I did, of course. Oh yeah, he welcomed me
into the Big nine.
Speaker 3 (42:11):
Oh.
Speaker 5 (42:12):
He'll be ninety five in July.
Speaker 1 (42:15):
So do you guys talk on all of your birthdays?
Are just on the big one birthday? Every birthday?
Speaker 5 (42:21):
I call him, he calls me, yeah, and we talk
a little bit.
Speaker 4 (42:25):
Yeah, we just talk.
Speaker 1 (42:27):
So what do you guys talk about? Would you talk
about when he called you up for your ninetieth.
Speaker 5 (42:31):
How he's feeling. Does he still go out to eat?
Does he still drive a car? Is you know things
like that? Is he getting around and he goes out?
He's got got the steakhouse that he goes to. It's
like the outback, the outback, and he goes, hey, he
has his seat or stool and yeah.
Speaker 1 (42:51):
Does he still smoke his cigars and drink beer?
Speaker 5 (42:53):
Oh? You know, he said he stopped that because he
developed a cough, so he stopped.
Speaker 1 (42:59):
Even though you know, you only speak to Sheldon a
couple times a year. Do you feel like your life
is enriched by having him in it?
Speaker 5 (43:10):
Yes, He's important to me in a lot of many ways. Yeah,
I feel he's my mortality. In other words, as long
as he lives, I'm okay, if do you understand that. Yeah,
it's like this is a bond we have in a
certain way, that we have this long life, and it's
kind of a gift and it's kind of a magic
to it. As long as he keeps on living, I'm okay. Wow,
(43:34):
you know, he's ninety five. I can go yet, you know,
a few more years.
Speaker 1 (43:57):
Thanks to everyone who helped put this episode together, We'll
be back next week with another encore presentation of Heavyweight,
and with it, another update from our guest
Pushkin. Hello, Khalila Holt, don't scare me like that. I'm sorry,
my god. Welcome to the studio.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
So now that we find ourselves at our new home
at Pushkin Industries.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Like you're reading it for the first time.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
We're celebrating some of our past accomplishments in the form
of encore presentations. Encore Ravisimo. Today we're going to be
listening to the very first Heavyweight. Yeah, an episode called
Buzz and it's.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
An episode that's personal to you.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
It's spoiler alert, Sorry, yes it is. It is Buzz
is my father.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
I really enjoy your dad. Whenever I get to hear
from him, it warms my heart.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Oh that's so nice. Yeah, my father has well I'm
not going to say that my wife married me because
of my father, but I'm sure it didn't hurt because
she's a very big Columbo fan Peter Falk, and my
father sounds a lot like he's of that generation. In fact,
he would have grown up in Brooklyn around the same
time as Peter Falk. But anyway, Yeah, this was the
(01:25):
blueprint for Heavyweight. And it was out of this episode
that I thought maybe I could use my powers of
interlocution to help others as I was helping my family,
why not spread the wealth?
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Yeah, you thought I'm so good at this that I
got to do more.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
When you have mammoth gifts like that, I mean you
have a responsibility to share it.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
So well, without further ado.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Let's listen to the episode and stick around after for
an update from your dad.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
But first, oh, but first, a word from our sponsors.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Thank you sponsors, Miss Holt.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Before you go, if I could just ask you one
more thing. That's very interesting that you wear combs Ye
from Gimblet Media. This is Jonathan Goldstein, your old pal.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Is that is that was called Gimblet Gimblet Media.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
That's correct. It sounds like giblets, the inside of a chicken,
like all the innerds. Well, everybody loves giblets.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
You, oh ship, they're my kids.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Hey guys, I'm up here. Do you know what my
new podcast is about. I know, I don't know anything
about it. Each week, I travel into people's pasts to
help them repair something that's been troubling them.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
M hmm.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
I'm sort of like a therapist, like a therapist, So yeah,
do you find out? Do you find that funny? I supportive.
That's the laughter of support.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
I think it's great.
Speaker 5 (03:03):
I think it's great.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Do you have any questions for me about what my
show is and what it's going to be, Like, what's
the name of your show?
Speaker 4 (03:11):
What's the name of your show?
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Yes, we're gonna go now, but Johnson's just about tell
me the name of his new show. As soon as
he tells me, I'm going to bang down on him
in five.
Speaker 4 (03:20):
Remember to do that.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Yes, to hang up the phone on each other. Okay, ready, Yes,
the name of the show is Heavyweight, Heavyweight, you get it?
Speaker 6 (03:30):
Two one.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
Hello.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Hello from Gimblet Media. I'm Jonathan Goldstein and this is
Heavyweight Today's episode.
Speaker 7 (03:47):
Buzz.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
Hello, Hey Dad, Hi Johnny.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Hey, how you doing good?
Speaker 4 (03:55):
You good?
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Good?
Speaker 4 (03:57):
Good? Yum Tivova, what's that?
Speaker 1 (04:02):
I'm not sure? This is my father, Buzz. I'm calling
him at his home in Montreal. And the reason we're
talking crazy talk is because it's young Kipper the Jewish
day of Atonement, which seems as good a day as
any to talk with him about forgiveness. So I wanted
to I wanted to ask you something and I just
(04:24):
wanted to gauge your interest. Yeah, how would you feel
about paying your brother Sheldon a visit.
Speaker 4 (04:33):
I have no feelings, die, I'm not really interested.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
You're not no. My father, Buzz is eighty and his brother, Sheldon,
his only sibling, is eighty five, and for the past
forty years they've pretty much been on the outs. My
father lives in Montreal and Sheldon lives in Florida, and
the last time they saw each other over twenty years ago,
(04:59):
was at their mother's funeral when they had a fight
over the details of the arrangements. Since then, they've hardly spoken.
It worries me because there's no not a lot of
time left, and I don't want my father to have regrets.
When the subject of his brother comes up, as it
often has over the years, my father feels competing things.
He grows angry or defensive, but other times he'll become
(05:22):
sad and remorseful. And it's the sorrow and the remorse
that I like best, because it's these feelings that I
believe speak to his better self, the self I want
to encourage. I'm not surprised that you're not jumping at
the idea, but I'm a little surprised that yours against
the idea Yeah.
Speaker 4 (05:40):
Time's passed. He hasn't shown much interest, so I'm respecting
that and I leave alone.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
What he did do was he he called you on
your eightieth birthday not so long ago, and you.
Speaker 4 (05:53):
Felt good about it to him on his eightieth birthday.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
This kind of tit for tat accounting is what always
gets in the way. There's been a competition between the
brothers since I was a kid. I remember how in
my grandmother's small New York kitchen, Sheldon and Buzz got
into an argument who could do the most push ups,
and the next thing I knew, my father was pulling
off his shirt and dropping to the kitchen floor in
his undershirt. My mother, not used to seeing the side
(06:19):
of him, stood over my father, flapping a dishtowel hysterically
while begging him to the point of tears to please stop.
Now you go, my father said, rising from the floor
when he was done. But Sheldon shook his head with
a smile. It was like he didn't even think my
father was worth the effort.
Speaker 4 (06:38):
You know what it is at this point with him,
I'll tell you what it is. I don't think it's
even anger. He's past anger, and he's passed any feelings
of animosity. He's passed that. He just doesn't care. Yeah,
you know that's apathy. I mean, sometimes at least hate
or love their emotions. Apathy is nothing.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Yeah, you know what.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
Johnny as a child, even when I was ten, when
I was nine, and I was crazy about him. We
had a great you know, I loved him. He was
the older brother.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
He was hello, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm listening.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
Uh, you know. I just looked up to him, and
he had older friends. Sometimes he'd take me along with
him and he was good. Hey, somebody trying to somebody
trying to call here, binging.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Me here, don't you see, Buzz? It's father time? Who
is bringing you here? And Buzz loses track of time.
Air Conditioners remain boxed all through July, and expired coupons
from the mid nineties make plump his wallet, So I
worry he'll put off reaching out to Sheldon until it's
too late. The most complicated question, the one I keep
(07:52):
coming back to, is how did the bad blood begin?
And there are many versions. An ill fated trip to Montreal,
where Sheldon felt slighted about having to stay in my
father's basement, an ill fated trip to New York, where
my father felt slighted about having to stay in Sheldon's
attic rude word spoken to each other's wives. In one
version of the story, Sheldon's refusal to bring a table
(08:14):
to my brisk almost resulted in my being circumcised on
an ironing board. But in the version being told today,
my father was asked by Sheldon to pay more than
his fair share for their mother's funeral, and I.
Speaker 4 (08:26):
Said, you always working some kind of an angle. So
he got furious. He got furious. He started screaming into
the phone, go to hell, drop dead, bah bah bayh.
And was that was how that ended. But I feel
he's the kind of guy that the gun. He has
angles like that, you know, he has angles. I always
(08:47):
felt I was on the up and up with him
and he wasn't with me.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
If you've got a stronger sense that he was interested
in seeing you, then would you.
Speaker 4 (08:57):
Yes, yes, you would be my g I wouldn't play
the house though, that's out of the question.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Okay, quick sidebar. Anytime I've ever raised the prospect of
visiting Sheldon, no matter how hypothetical the scenario, my father
always makes a point of insisting how no matter what,
he would not stay in Sheldon's house, even if he
was invited to, which I should point out he never is.
Speaker 4 (09:20):
I wouldn't stay at his house. How come you I
wouldn't stay there? I mean, not my thing?
Speaker 1 (09:27):
How come you always bring that up? I mean, normally,
when someone goes to visit someone that they haven't seen
in decades, don't stay at a hotel, you.
Speaker 4 (09:35):
Know, I would stay at a motel or somewhere near hetel.
Speaker 8 (09:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
No, we'd get a place, you know, with an ice machine.
Speaker 4 (09:41):
And uh, you know why you want to You're interested
in making a trip.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
I mean, I'm interested. Do you think that there's anything
to be gained in seeing him?
Speaker 3 (09:57):
Hm?
Speaker 4 (10:00):
I guess there's something. Then, you know, you share your
common experience and talk about the old days, and there
are things that only he and I I can remember,
you know, yeah, you know you What you could do
is you could call him and see what what what
what his attitude is? You know, it depends on you,
(10:20):
know how how, how how you feel, what kind of
receptions you get?
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Yeah, I mean I would. I would be happy to
do that.
Speaker 4 (10:29):
I like your initial suggestion that you call him feel
him out and see what he's like.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Okay. I didn't suggest that, but you you suggested that.
Speaker 4 (10:39):
Yeah. I like that just because you'll give me an
honest you'll give me an honest reaction.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
I'm happy to do it. But I mean, what, what
what are you looking for from? From? What do you
want to hear from him?
Speaker 4 (10:51):
I missed my brother. I would like to see him. Okay,
that's all. Okay, you understand, and you come back on
me with an honest evaluation.
Speaker 9 (11:11):
Hello, Sheldon, Yeah, speaking hi that it was quite a
shock getting your phone call, you said, Johnath. Yeah, my
hearing is not that great, okay. And when I heard
the first message, I'm saying, who the heck is that?
I don't know anybody by that name.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Sheldon now lives outside of Fort Lauderdale, but my few
memories of him are from when he lived in upstate
New York. I remember he lived in a trailer. I
remember that he worked at a local prison, that he
smoked cigars, that he looked a little like my father,
but was hunched, like the world was weighing down on him.
And he always wore this expression on his face that
seemed to say, you gotta be kidding me. You're keeping okay,
(11:57):
you're keeping occupied.
Speaker 9 (11:59):
Yeah, I read a lot. I going to gym. I
go shopping. Hi, you know, here and there, little things
here and there, and so.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
You still go. How often you go to.
Speaker 9 (12:11):
The gym three times a week?
Speaker 4 (12:15):
Wow?
Speaker 1 (12:15):
And what kind of stuff do you do there?
Speaker 7 (12:18):
Well?
Speaker 9 (12:18):
I do about twenty minutes of aerobics, uh huh, and
then I do a little weight training. I try to
flirt a little with the women there.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Oh yeah, my father also goes to the gym. That's
a part of his routine. Also, he was happy to
hear from you on his eightieth birthday.
Speaker 8 (12:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 9 (12:45):
Well he didn't call me on my eighty fifth though.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Tit meet tat Yeah, like, so, you know, maybe we
could go out for dinner. I don't know that kind
of thing.
Speaker 9 (13:01):
Uh huh. Well, what kind of time frame are we
talking about here?
Speaker 7 (13:18):
I don't know.
Speaker 10 (13:20):
Our lives have been much different. I don't know how
much we have to have in common anymore.
Speaker 7 (13:27):
Yeah, we don't have We don't have much in common
anymore except the fact that we're elderly and retired.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
Other than that, I.
Speaker 10 (13:39):
Don't know what we have in common.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
You have your past in common?
Speaker 10 (13:45):
Yes, I'll tell you honestly, I'm not a very sentimental person,
and I think, and I being a pragmatist, I take
things the way they are. I try not to dwell
upon the past, and I try not to take people
(14:09):
the way I remember them, but as they are.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Do you think that makes things easier, makes.
Speaker 10 (14:19):
Things easier for me?
Speaker 1 (14:21):
Yeah? Do other people around you? Sometimes? Doesn't make it
harder for other people around you ever.
Speaker 10 (14:33):
To be honest with you, I've been in the last
few years, I've been a loner. You would basically almost
call me a recluse. I don't socialize with many people,
and I really don't give a damn what anybody thinks.
Speaker 4 (14:55):
Yeah, and.
Speaker 10 (15:00):
Contrary to popular believe, I like being alone by myself.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
I get along with myself. Well yeah, look, I don't
want to be rude. Yeah, yeah, but I want to
go have my lunch.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, that's fine. It's fine, Sheldon. I
appreciate your talking to me, and you would be amenable
to spending some time.
Speaker 10 (15:29):
Why not. We are brothers.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
I mean, we're not closer or anything, but.
Speaker 10 (15:35):
You know, we're not going to have a chance to
see each other much in the future.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Yeah, is that anything that you think about.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
Not much now.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
And so I call my father back and let him
know that Sheldon is amenable. And because I know that
for my father the days tend to pile up like
unboxed air conditioners, I have my mother get on the
phone to help nail down a firm travel date and
Dad he wants to go, if Dad wants to go,
if he wants.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
To go next weekend.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
We don't have to go on the weekend. We can
go during the week.
Speaker 4 (16:20):
Yeah, comes, as you know, you caught me off. God,
how about it. I'll call you Wednesday or Thursday.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
How's that today's Monday or yeah, or even if you
feel like calling tomorrow, you can call me.
Speaker 4 (16:38):
Yeah, okay, I'll probably I'll call you at the latest Thursday, to.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
Get the Thursday at the latest, that's three days from today. Okay,
all right, you do what you want to do.
Speaker 4 (16:56):
You call me, but I'll call you a Thursday.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
Coming up after the break Thursday. And so on Thursday,
possibly with a little nudging for my mother, Buzz agrees,
And then my father and I are off to Florida
to visit my uncle Sheldon too.
Speaker 5 (17:18):
And then you have an address, Yeah, I do Okay.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
My dad and I meet up at the Fort Lauderdale Airport.
I flew from New York and my dad from Montreal.
My father's all dressed up, wearing a faux Swaede sports
jacket that I've never seen him in. We grab our
airport rental and prepare for the two hour drive to
Sheldon in the ninety degree heat. It's immediately made clear
that faux swayed might not have been the best fashioned choice.
Speaker 5 (17:43):
It's like we're on a safariy.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
You on the road to Sheldon's. My father will experience
a spectrum of feelings as we first set out. There's excitement.
Speaker 5 (17:55):
You know, my brother was funny in a lot of ways.
Speaker 4 (17:57):
I could laugh.
Speaker 5 (17:58):
We're gonna have laughed with him, you know what I mean.
He's a very funny man.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
A half an hour in and there's bitterness.
Speaker 11 (18:05):
We invited him to your baments and he returned a
very cold calld. Sorry we will not be attending, you know,
so mean, you know what I mean? Even the writing.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
An hour in and how is Buzz feeling?
Speaker 4 (18:21):
I'm relaxed.
Speaker 5 (18:22):
I'm kind of old to get anxious, you know what
I mean?
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Half an hour to Sheldon's a.
Speaker 5 (18:27):
Little bit apprehensive.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
Now, yeah, ten minutes to Sheldon's and buzzes feeling all right, Yeah,
he's feeling a little.
Speaker 5 (18:39):
Uh No, it's gonna be strange.
Speaker 6 (18:41):
Yeah, it's gonna be very strange. I mean the man
is a stranger to me now, and yet he's my brother.
Speaker 8 (18:48):
You understand.
Speaker 6 (18:48):
It's a very strange feeling.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (18:53):
I wonder if he's getting nervous, maybe because he's waiting
for us, right, yeah, yell set yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
Oh it's hot, it's really hot. Sheldon lives in the
corner house on a quiet suburban street ring the bell.
Speaker 8 (19:19):
I guess is this his door?
Speaker 1 (19:24):
I'll double check maybe because there.
Speaker 12 (19:26):
Is, Yeah, thank you, I smell the good smell of cigar.
Speaker 8 (19:44):
There had become a monk may.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
And after all the years and the worry and the dread,
things seem to be going swimmingly. We sit down at
Sheldon's kitchen table and my father gets right into it.
Speaker 8 (19:57):
Now, there's things I want to know.
Speaker 5 (19:59):
You said that Rainy died.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
The dead are a good place to begin as a subject.
They're easily agreed upon and not likely to spark a fight.
Speaker 8 (20:09):
The uncle died, The uncle died. He was the youngest brother. Oh,
he died long ago.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
He died.
Speaker 8 (20:15):
Oh you know who died, real prick.
Speaker 5 (20:20):
Yeah, I didn't know him that well, he didn't know Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
Nish.
Speaker 8 (20:27):
Shocking. Yeah he was fat.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
He was fat, red head.
Speaker 8 (20:30):
Red head right, yeah yeah.
Speaker 5 (20:35):
Remember remember Johnny, Johnny was a sax man.
Speaker 8 (20:37):
Ye, Johnny, he would fuck a dog on the street
if you sort of dog. He tried to fuck the dog.
Can I get you guys a cold beer?
Speaker 5 (20:51):
I'd like a beer, olive beer.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Even though they're in their eighties, Sheldon and buzz Stop
possessed voices and temperaments suited to shouting out Brooklyn tenement windows. Well,
my voice, olive beer is best suited to asking a
waitress if there will be a sharing charge. I forgot
about that.
Speaker 8 (21:11):
Sorry.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
Case in point this is Sheldon accidentally swiping a portable
microphone receiver off the kitchen table and me trying to
smooth things over.
Speaker 8 (21:20):
This off. Well, it's annoying.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
You just put it in the in your pocket there.
Speaker 8 (21:25):
Just take it off, please, thank you.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
Over the next couple of days, my testes will flee
like frightened cockroaches, upward, ascending to heights not seen since
the bar Mitzvah that Sheldon was not attending. And while
we're on the subject of testes, here's Sheldon reminiscing about
the time he was examined for a rupture by their
family doctor.
Speaker 8 (21:48):
Me and Wilie Rosen were joining the weightlifting Yep, say
you how to be tested for a rupture? Hey, I
remem being put his hand onto my balls. I started
left and so hot, I pissed right in his hand.
Speaker 4 (22:05):
Hey.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
Over the years, I've seen my father in the role
of husband, uncle, and grandfather, but I've never really seen
him in the role of younger brother. How odd to
see it now at eighty he sits beside Sheldon with
this expression I've never seen on his face. It's wide eyed,
sweet and deferential. But as the day wears on, Sheldon
(22:30):
and Buzz began to squabble over their memories, fighting over
every little detail.
Speaker 5 (22:35):
Remember the hallabaloo we had with the diet, head diet.
That heavy set girl a manicurist. She was a head
dying manicurist. No, she was a head dying. Here's what happened.
She went over to Earth.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
They even argue over the death of their grandmother.
Speaker 5 (22:49):
I have found her body. My mother was across the
street a Greenborough. I remember walk and I knew she
was dead. I never saw a dead body of my life,
but I knew she was dead.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
Sure, so wait till you found her, or you found her.
Speaker 5 (23:06):
I remember looking in on the room and see how
I said it was awfully I found them.
Speaker 8 (23:10):
But let him no, I'm not some credit.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
The whole afternoon is like this. Every subject, even their
dead grandmother, somehow becomes fodder for another pissing match. They're
burning up all this time with small talk, when what
they need is some big talk. In particular, they need
to address a story that I know who. It's a
great deal of meaning for my father. It took place
in nineteen thirty nine, on the day their mother left them.
(23:40):
I've only ever heard the story from my father, never
from Sheldon. I wanted to ask what you remember, what
your perspective?
Speaker 8 (23:48):
Well, I remember that time was when Pop was smacking
Iran and she ran out in the hole in her
slip fighting in the hole, he was smacking around. She
ran out. Yeah, so what happened the next morning?
Speaker 5 (24:05):
The next morning, Yeah, look in a closet, her clothes
were gone.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
Oh, what happened? After this, and my father's telling is
that his mother returned soon after she left with a
policeman in tow.
Speaker 5 (24:19):
And they came back to try to get you.
Speaker 8 (24:22):
They wanted you to come back with them, and where
were you? I was there, but they were trying to
drag you out of the house.
Speaker 5 (24:33):
You weren't trying to grin Now, no, no, I can say,
with my father and grandma.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
And mother, this is the point of the story. For
my father, It proves once and for all how his
mother loved Sheldon more than she loved him. Sheldon didn't
move out with her, and after a year their mother returned,
and together Buzz and Sheldon grew up under the same
roof in the same bedroom, often sleeping under the same blankets,
(24:59):
each knowing who the mother had chosen, and each having
to do their best to carry on and live life
with the burden of that knowledge. A couple times during
the day I asked them why they haven't spoken in
(25:20):
so long, and they both insist, maybe out of embarrassment,
that they do talk, just not often. But it isn't true.
In fact, my father learned of Sheldon's wife's death many
years after the fact, and then only from me. Sheldon's
daughter got in touch through Facebook and we made a
phone date where she caught me up on her life
(25:41):
in Sheldon's and a few nights later, while over at
my parents for dinner, I told my father of his
sister in law's death. There was a terrible look that
fell across his face, one of sadness, but something else too,
maybe shock over just how far he and Sheldon had drifted.
I found out about Judy, about her death, your wife.
Speaker 8 (26:06):
I didn't know about it either until you told me. Yeah,
didn't I tell you? You didn't know about her? No, we
didn't know. We didn't know she was sick about two years. Yeah, Judy, Well,
when she got the diagnosis, she was already stage four.
(26:32):
What did I know about cancer? So the surgeon, so,
he said, So, I said, well, doctor, how did the
surgery go? I always show you. I went very well.
But the cancer is in her liver. Now, I was spreading.
I said, it's in he'll liver. I said what? And
(26:55):
on top of that, I'm driving home, I'm all fucked up,
and I'm Space style and my driver windows open, and
some kids pull up alongside me and flip a lit
cigarette into my car you know where I usually, I commented,
(27:22):
buy myself on the ball. They got a waitress there
who always waits on me. He takes Cook.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
Canady for dinner. Sheldon takes us to a local outback steakhouse.
As people walk by, he provides a running commentary of
an elderly couple.
Speaker 8 (27:39):
Don't get like that couple. Whatever you did, it's time
for the execution.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
Of an overweight couple.
Speaker 8 (27:48):
People are fat.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
It's as though he's sharpening his with readying it for
the main event. Teasing my dad about Canada.
Speaker 8 (27:57):
I don't know how you could take Canada on your life.
Speaker 5 (28:01):
So you got nice neighbors, it's nice, It's okay.
Speaker 4 (28:05):
Uh.
Speaker 8 (28:06):
I wasn't gonna say, you're living in the same.
Speaker 11 (28:08):
Place about thirty five, thirty eight years something like that.
Speaker 8 (28:14):
I'm happy here. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
For my father, I know this is a touchy subject,
believing as he always has, that Sheldon looks down on
him for the dinkiness of his Canadian life and home.
It's like a constant reminder of just who is second best. Later,
my father will repeat Sheldon's words. You're still living in
that same place, He'll say, for how many years? But
(28:38):
just then I watch my father clench and unclench his
jaw as he does when he is brooding. I know
he's trying to take the high road, trying not to
ruin the evening what.
Speaker 8 (28:48):
Two hundred dollars and thirty cent said, I kidd.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
Sheldon invites us back to his place for cookies, but
my father says he isn't up for it. Thank you,
And as we walk through the restaurant parking to the car,
my father is silent. I find myself feeling protective of him.
(29:14):
After midnight, lying awake in our hotel, my father insisted
we stay at one. I lay in bed thinking about
that day in nineteen thirty nine when my grandmother came
back for Sheldon, not my father. For my father, not
only did it push him away from Sheldon, making him
feel jealous and resentful, but it also cast a shadow
over the rest of his life, causing him to always
(29:35):
feel passed over. He's mellowed with age, but as a kid,
I saw it come out in all kinds of ways,
always sensitive to slights, ready for a fight at the
smallest perceived defense. I wonder if there's a different way
for my father to see things, if there is the
only living person in this world who can help is Sheldon.
When their mom left, Sheldon was nine, my father five.
(29:59):
Sheldon would have understood a lot more than my father. Yesterday,
Buzz and Sheldon talked like a couple of kids who
used to play stickball in the old neighborhood. Today, if
me and my big fat meddling yap have any sway,
they'll have a chance to talk as men, as brothers
even because if not. Now when day two, this.
Speaker 5 (30:30):
Is a damn good cigar, he well, Dominican Republican. They
make a damn good cigar in Dominical Republic.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
Despite the difficulties of last night, the coin is flipped
back to the good side. Sheldon offers my father a cigar,
and with a cigar, some cigar talk, some pretty foul
cigar talk.
Speaker 8 (30:47):
We're riding Mount Queens Boulevard. Johnny's in the back seat
with the whole He's got his naked ass up in
the air and he's hum Well, the funny thing is
we had to stop for a light and there's a
truck driver sitting in the cab bump high.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
So if you guys missed each other, what do you
miss each other?
Speaker 8 (31:17):
You know? He asked the weirdest question, what is he abroad?
Speaker 1 (31:23):
No, I mean, I don't know. That's you know, eager
to prove to my uncle Sheldon that in spite of
the fact I'm wearing my wife's travel deodorant, I am
indeed not abroad. I allow them to return to more
pressing matters. They're prostates, that said Jesus.
Speaker 8 (31:38):
He says, your prestate feels like the moon craters in there.
He said. I said, thank you, doctor, complimenting.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
So if I could steer this away from the prostrates,
and so my father said that it's significant to him
to have come. What do you say?
Speaker 8 (31:56):
I agree with whatever he said?
Speaker 1 (31:58):
But what about you?
Speaker 8 (31:59):
I said, I agree with whatever he said. Do you
want to written?
Speaker 1 (32:04):
I know it feels like I'm getting a taste of
what growing up with Sheldon have been like. So again
I make my move. So I have some questions just
about because the stories that I know from my father.
But I'm curious what your take is because you were older,
do you remember what was going on when your mom
(32:29):
when your mother left? Originally like what, what?
Speaker 8 (32:33):
Why?
Speaker 1 (32:34):
And what was going on?
Speaker 8 (32:35):
Didn't you cover this ground before yesterday?
Speaker 1 (32:39):
But from my father's perspective, the way I understood it
was always you were the favorite. Did you did you
feel that way? At this point, Sheldon's face suddenly softens.
Speaker 8 (32:50):
I always felt that I got the short end of
the stick.
Speaker 5 (32:54):
Yeah, but you have You were kind of a favorite
with my mom.
Speaker 8 (32:59):
Yeah. Maybe with mom, of course maybe. Temperamentally we were
closer than I was with my father. My father never
a me spit. Did you ever get any money from
my father? I can't remember. You never got a line? Now,
I can't remember you never One time I sprained my
(33:21):
ankle so bad. That was that was terrible. I laid
in that bed my hand. He was He says to me,
you lazy bum. Yeah. Man, he went off on me
that time.
Speaker 5 (33:36):
He took Sheldon once Sheldon happened to say the word fuck.
Speaker 8 (33:41):
He came in with that fucking strap, swinging with.
Speaker 5 (33:46):
The bucket, and you know, I can understand leaving a
feeling of resentment and dislike.
Speaker 8 (33:52):
Hey, yeah, that was his way of communicating with us.
Smack smack, and then what a way.
Speaker 1 (34:02):
Yeah it was easier on you.
Speaker 5 (34:03):
You think, Uh, it wasn't that easy. But he was
tough on Sheldon.
Speaker 8 (34:08):
Was I know, Oh, you were closer to him than
I was a lot of things that went on. You
didn't understand really well it did going on, so you
had a different take.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
Well, are you surprised.
Speaker 8 (34:21):
By But I was a kid. I didn't understand it.
Speaker 1 (34:24):
But you didn't know that Sheldon was getting it so bad.
In Buzz's telling, their father was always a more or
less benign, childish figure, incapable of expressing his feelings and
so given to temper tantrums. For Buzz, it was their
mother who was the manipulator, the woman who played the
brothers off each other. But hearing Sheldon's take, it sounds
(34:47):
like maybe their mother didn't come to take Sheldon because
she loved him best, but simply because he needed more
protecting from their father. For the first time during our trip,
I can see my father considering Sheldon's point of view,
(35:07):
actually taking it in. I know it's intense for him
because he can't even meet Sheldon's eyes. Instead, he looks
at me, addresses his comments to me.
Speaker 5 (35:18):
You know, it said that my father had such a
negative impact on him, you know, just awful because he
had so much going for me. He was a wonderful son.
He worked hard, he was a good boy.
Speaker 8 (35:30):
He went to school talking like I'm a failure in life. No,
you aren't a fail. That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 5 (35:36):
You weren't a faith But all I'm saying is that
emotionally he left an impact on you.
Speaker 8 (35:41):
It took a long time for me to get out
of that emotion. And now I'm at peace to myself.
I can talk about him and laugh about it. Yeah,
now I want peace quiet. I'm happy living by myself.
(36:03):
Are you lonely, Sheldon?
Speaker 5 (36:05):
No? No.
Speaker 1 (36:11):
The last time my father saw my grandfather in full health,
my dad was visiting from Canada. My grandfather asked my
father to drive him to the cemetery to visit his parents' grave,
and once there, my grandfather wept inconsolably. Later that day
he would succumb to a stroke and shortly after be
moved to a nursing home. With Sheldon being more local,
(36:33):
the burden of my grandfather's care fell mainly to Sheldon.
It seems like a lot of the family's burdens fell
to Sheldon.
Speaker 5 (36:41):
They put a lot of responsibility on him, that my
dad should have been taking that responsibility and he shouldered that.
Speaker 8 (36:49):
Well, who is going to take Carria, who is going
to take you to school? Meet you? I remember one
time I was later or something. You stood outside that
right I said, mousy, I'm here, I'm here. He was
good to meet a lot of times me. You know,
you were my older brother.
Speaker 5 (37:10):
He used to knock the shit out of me sometimes,
but you know that's the way it is with brothers.
Speaker 8 (37:17):
Well, yeah, I was good in some way some way
that I was mean? Who was not?
Speaker 5 (37:22):
Who is not?
Speaker 8 (37:24):
Who is not?
Speaker 1 (37:25):
So if you feel like you were compelled to see
each other now because you knew that, you know it's
an hour and never kind of thing, then it means
that it was important to you both right to see
each other.
Speaker 8 (37:40):
You want to take that sure?
Speaker 5 (37:41):
I'm easy answer, yes, yes, because we're not getting any younger.
I mean, what's down the road.
Speaker 8 (37:50):
I'm eighty he's eighty five.
Speaker 5 (37:53):
I mean because there was a lot of water under
the bridge and we want to close that bridge.
Speaker 8 (37:57):
Now.
Speaker 5 (37:58):
I want to feel easy. Now, I want to say,
now he's going to be eighty six, I want to
call him on his birthday and say happy birthday to him. Now,
I'm not going to stand any fucking ceremonies anymore.
Speaker 1 (38:08):
As my father speaks as per his brother's example, dropping
f bombs like he's in a Guy Ritchie film. Sheldon
keeps his arms crossed and his eyes shut tight. He's
quiet for several seconds, and then he reaches out to
pet his cat.
Speaker 8 (38:22):
Should I leave you at a cat in my will?
If anything happened.
Speaker 5 (38:25):
If anything out, I'll take care of the cat.
Speaker 8 (38:28):
I'll take care of the cat.
Speaker 5 (38:31):
I'm happy I can't to see you.
Speaker 8 (38:32):
That I am. I'm happy it came here. That's good,
very good. Wherever I want to buy a house.
Speaker 1 (38:45):
When it's time to leave, Sheldon walks us outside, but
before we get into the rental, he points across the
lawn to his neighbor's house. He tells my father that
it's for sale, and then he tells him the asking price,
and my father says that doesn't sound bad at all,
and Sheldon says that, what with Canada being so bloody cold,
my father should consider moving to Florida, and my father
(39:07):
says maybe he will. They don't get too emotional, they
don't even hugo by. They just shake hands. And with that,
it feels like Buzz has forgiven Sheldon, and Sheldon has
forgiven Buzz all right.
Speaker 8 (39:21):
You take care of sankot this. Thank you, Yeah, thank you,
we'll speak. I'll speak.
Speaker 4 (39:38):
Turn right on northwest, mad for drawing.
Speaker 8 (39:41):
Oh my god, it feels so different now.
Speaker 5 (39:43):
Do you know that this has taken a lot off
my shoulders idea?
Speaker 1 (39:49):
You know, as we ride to the airport, my father
says that the thought of Sheldon all alone in that
house with just a cat makes him sad. Do you
really think he isn't lonely? My father asks. I assure
him that Sheldon seems okay with being alone, But my
father doesn't seem so sure. After all these years, the
(40:09):
burden of having lost his brother has been replaced by
a new burden, one that might be heavier to bear
(40:55):
now that the Fernuers returned to its goodwill home, now that.
Speaker 4 (41:05):
The last month's rent is skeeting.
Speaker 1 (41:08):
With damage to pot take this moment to deced.
Speaker 5 (41:15):
If we if we too felt from from the.
Speaker 1 (41:24):
Things an accident And so you know why I wanted
to talk to you.
Speaker 5 (41:32):
Yeah, I know you wanted to talk to me, but
you know about what I have no idea.
Speaker 1 (41:39):
So I wanted to revisit. Do you remember the story
that I made about you and your brother? Sheldon.
Speaker 8 (41:45):
Sure.
Speaker 1 (41:46):
Oh yeah, back then you were in your I think
you were eighty and I think Sheldon was eighty four
or eighty.
Speaker 5 (41:54):
Five, right right right, Yeah, I was eighty.
Speaker 1 (41:58):
You just turned ninety Yeah, yeah, December. Did you get
a phone call from Sheldon?
Speaker 5 (42:06):
Yes, I did, of course. Oh yeah, he welcomed me
into the Big nine.
Speaker 3 (42:11):
Oh.
Speaker 5 (42:12):
He'll be ninety five in July.
Speaker 1 (42:15):
So do you guys talk on all of your birthdays?
Are just on the big one birthday? Every birthday?
Speaker 5 (42:21):
I call him, he calls me, yeah, and we talk
a little bit.
Speaker 4 (42:25):
Yeah, we just talk.
Speaker 1 (42:27):
So what do you guys talk about? Would you talk
about when he called you up for your ninetieth.
Speaker 5 (42:31):
How he's feeling. Does he still go out to eat?
Does he still drive a car? Is you know things
like that? Is he getting around and he goes out?
He's got got the steakhouse that he goes to. It's
like the outback, the outback, and he goes, hey, he
has his seat or stool and yeah.
Speaker 1 (42:51):
Does he still smoke his cigars and drink beer?
Speaker 5 (42:53):
Oh? You know, he said he stopped that because he
developed a cough, so he stopped.
Speaker 1 (42:59):
Even though you know, you only speak to Sheldon a
couple times a year. Do you feel like your life
is enriched by having him in it?
Speaker 5 (43:10):
Yes, He's important to me in a lot of many ways. Yeah,
I feel he's my mortality. In other words, as long
as he lives, I'm okay, if do you understand that. Yeah,
it's like this is a bond we have in a
certain way, that we have this long life, and it's
kind of a gift and it's kind of a magic
to it. As long as he keeps on living, I'm okay. Wow,
(43:34):
you know, he's ninety five. I can go yet, you know,
a few more years.
Speaker 1 (43:57):
Thanks to everyone who helped put this episode together, We'll
be back next week with another encore presentation of Heavyweight,
and with it, another update from our guest
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