A Famous Person We Almost Met

 

I had my mother-in-Law with me by the hand; we were by ourselves; we were up to no good.

My husband always claimed that he couldn’t take us anywhere; we were an embarrassment.  We laughed at all the wrong times: weddings and funerals were our specialties.

That day, mom and I were headed for Lit’s Department Store and the best tasting, but bad as could be for your teeth, peanut brittle in a can.  It must have been before 1977 because that’s when Lit’s closed their doors for good.

We took a short cut behind an historic building in Philadelphia, named Congress Hall. There was a back entrance to the building, I don’t recall if there was a single or double door.  Not that it really matters except that out of this door (or somewhere near it, I didn’t see this part) around 12 Noon came Queen Elizabeth II all by herself.  You can’t make this stuff up. No MI-5, MI-6, palace guards or whoever is supposed to be with the Queen to protect her.  No one, just her.  And me and my mother-in-law.

We just stopped right where we were, having come face to face with the Queen.  We actually froze, we were all three of us so surprised. No one moved for what couldn’t have been more than a few seconds, but seemed to be much longer.  Then I took my mom-in-law to the left and Her Majesty went to the right.  In the distance I was aware of several men at the back of the historic building rushing toward us. 

We had only been 3 feet apart, but technically we had never met.

 

(Queen Elizabeth II was in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania around July 6, 1976 and visited Independence National Historical Park.)

This story is completely true.

Available in : A Quick Read: Short-Short Stories