"What?"
He repeated what he had asked. Only the word "mafia" was clear.
"What?"
A little louder, he asked yet again. "Is this the mafia?"
Andy and I looked at each other. This was new and interesting. Puzzled, I answered, "Is what the mafia?"
"This. Is this the mafia?"
Andy and I smiled and chuckled, because we were still clueless. I asked Terry, "What are you talking about dear?"
Quite serious and concerned looking, Terry repeated, "The mafia. Is this the mafia?"
Clearly Terry had just woken up from a nap and was confused.
"No, this isn't the mafia."
With something else on his mind, Terry mumbled something else. After several tries, the word "seat" became clear. Finally, another question, just as nonsensical formed. "Is the seat vacant?"
I asked, "What seat?"
"The seat... the seat!"
"Dear, I have no idea what you are talking about."
My son and I gave each other puzzled looks. Neither of us could figure out what was perculating through Terry's mind.
Terry mumbled again... "orange."
"What?"
Once again, he could only muster a single word... "orange."
"What about orange?"
With this question, he couldn't formulate his thought. Holding his hands cupped in front of him, he began bouncing them slightly, as though this was a clue.
"I'm just not getting it dear. I think you woke up and are still half-asleep."
Terry looked around, quite confused. As near as my son and I could determine, the "mafia" part of Terry's delusion came from a show about JFK. The "seat vacant" came from a news report of Governor Perry being indicted on bogus charges. And, "orange" came from a new medicine bottle, which had an orange top. It's funny what the mind will construct.
