A stein of beer, an 'oompah' band- and Madeline Albright
Last night I stopped, as is sometimes my wont, at Hessen Haus on Court Avenue for a stein of Hacker-Pschorr Alt. The bar was so crowded that was hard to find a place to stand (as is usual on Saturday night), but somehow I managed to find a place at the bar.
As she was serving me my beer, one of my favorite bartenders (an extraordinarily bright woman; a graduate of a prestigious university, fluent in German, and informed on all manner of scholarly subjects- as well as a remarkably attractive one) told me that Madeline Albright, Bill Clinton's Secretary of State, was standing behind me. I turned around, but didn't see her.
One might have thought that she was having me on, as the Brits say. But when you live in Iowa and it's the December before an election year, political celebrities are apt to be a bit thick on the ground. If I were still living in Washington D.C., I might have been a little skeptical. But not in Des Moines. Not this month.
Later my bartender friend told me that Albright was standing at the end of the bar, dressed in black. "I wonder what she's doing here," the bartender mused. I said that she was probably in Des Moines advising Hillary on foreign policy- a guess that seemed to be confirmed by the large number of people in the bar wearing buttons declaring their support for The Unthinkable One.
I looked, but I still couldn't see Albright.
I asked about her location again the next time the bartender came past. I was informed that Albright was doing the polka. This, I had to see.
Feigning a call of nature, I arose from the bar and made my way across the dance floor toward the bathroom, eyes alert for stray former cabinet members. No dice. I returned, disappointed, to my beer.
"Is she still here?," I asked when my beautiful and brainy bartender friend came by to ask if I wanted another. "Nope," she said, sadly. "She left a moment ago."
"Bummer," I said. "I looked every time you told me where she was, but I just didn't see her."
"She's very small," the bartender observed.
And so it was that I missed out on a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see Madeline Albright doing the polka.
Too bad. Ah, well; maybe tonight Janet Reno will drop by. She ought to be a bit easier to find.
As she was serving me my beer, one of my favorite bartenders (an extraordinarily bright woman; a graduate of a prestigious university, fluent in German, and informed on all manner of scholarly subjects- as well as a remarkably attractive one) told me that Madeline Albright, Bill Clinton's Secretary of State, was standing behind me. I turned around, but didn't see her.
One might have thought that she was having me on, as the Brits say. But when you live in Iowa and it's the December before an election year, political celebrities are apt to be a bit thick on the ground. If I were still living in Washington D.C., I might have been a little skeptical. But not in Des Moines. Not this month.
Later my bartender friend told me that Albright was standing at the end of the bar, dressed in black. "I wonder what she's doing here," the bartender mused. I said that she was probably in Des Moines advising Hillary on foreign policy- a guess that seemed to be confirmed by the large number of people in the bar wearing buttons declaring their support for The Unthinkable One.
I looked, but I still couldn't see Albright.
I asked about her location again the next time the bartender came past. I was informed that Albright was doing the polka. This, I had to see.
Feigning a call of nature, I arose from the bar and made my way across the dance floor toward the bathroom, eyes alert for stray former cabinet members. No dice. I returned, disappointed, to my beer.
"Is she still here?," I asked when my beautiful and brainy bartender friend came by to ask if I wanted another. "Nope," she said, sadly. "She left a moment ago."
"Bummer," I said. "I looked every time you told me where she was, but I just didn't see her."
"She's very small," the bartender observed.
And so it was that I missed out on a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see Madeline Albright doing the polka.
Too bad. Ah, well; maybe tonight Janet Reno will drop by. She ought to be a bit easier to find.
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