Travel tales

There was Mike in the PHI airport. I sat down next to an empty seat, except that a leather coat was in part of the seat. So was my purse strap.
Then this guy came along, looked at me like I had invaded his space, which I had, I guess, so I moved my purse strap and said, "Oh, sorry."
He said, "Calm down. Don't get excited."
I wasn't sure I heard him because it seemed a strange thing to say, but I went ahead and said, "You haven't seen me excited."
"What?"
"I said, you haven't seen me excited."
He laughed, and we were friends.

Mike told me he's from Atlantic City. He was traveling alone to Las Vegas, because "they (his wife and ten-year-old son Dakota) are always going somewhere and I stay home."
"Okay," I said. "But I don't like Las Vegas. I don't gamble."
"I don't gamble either. I'm going to play, don't like Mickey Mouse so I don't want to go to Disneyland."

Mike said it was his birthday. I wished him a happy birthday and asked his age. When he didn't answer me, I guessed his age. He looked about 50, but I guessed 46, and when he shook his head I said 35. (I'm not stupid. People always like to be thought younger than they are. Trust me.) Mike laughed and said, "I'm 53, fifty-three with a ten-year-old son."

We talked about many things, believe me, and included the people around us, too. Here are a couple of the many things he told me:
1.  He doesn't want his son to ever pick up a ball, meaning he doesn't want his son to play sports. (I think it's too late, because, says Mike, Dakota is big, and he likes to play football.)
2.  They watch Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune every day in their home, and "of course you know that Wheel of Fortune is fixed." (What?)

Mike said he likes to talk to people but doesn't like to ask their names. I said "Me, too, but I do like to ask people their names." That's how I know his name is Mike.

Mike has a landscaping business--commercial and trouble-shooting, he said. He is a handsome, trim, casually-dressed black man, about 5'7" or 5'8" with a ready smile and a personality I liked immediately. He liked me, too, because I surprised him. You know, white-haired white lady who has a wit and makes you laugh and you're a black guy and she's not afraid of you.