Dating : Terrible News

Mother went to her Saturday night bingo last evening. She had barely come inside before she blurted out “There was some terrible news at bingo tonight!” In this age group that usually means someone has died. I knew she had to be serious when she actually sat down on the sofa and faced me.

Aggie died. While a death is not unusual, it was the circumstances of Aggie’s death. Aggie was in her late seventies and was recently widowed. She was in poor health with heart problems and a recent hip replacement. Despite her health problems she continued to drive and run Sunday and Wednesday bingo games in town.

Since her husband’s death she had been quite lonely and was constantly asking other bingo ladies to go with her on overnight trips to casinos. Recently Aggie had mentioned to my mother that she was considering taking a month to drive to Kentucky to visit family. My mother said that the trip sounded like fun and threw in “Wouldn’t it be nice to go on a girls’ trip together?” full well knowing she would never do such a thing with Aggie as she barely got through an overnight trip to a local casino with her.

Of course, Aggie jumped at the chance of asking mother to go with her, being desperate for companionship. (Aggie had a distant relationship with her daughter and other family members.) Mother remained evasive since Aggie asked her. Apparently Aggie decided to go by herself and set off on Wednesday. She had one contact person in town, another bingo group member, Lisa, who knew Aggie had left town.

Thursday morning Lisa got a phone call and was told that Aggie had been found dead in her car, pulled off on the side of the road. How Aggie died is speculation until more information is provided. Of course, that doesn’t stop the gossips and Aggie was the topic of conversation the rest of the evening.

Imagine my surprise when mother then abruptly switched gears and cheerfully announced “But I split three games!” followed by “Well, let me see how much I won.” and then “Well, I won almost all my money back!”

I was saddened by the news as I had known Aggie and her husband. I always got a kick out of seeing

Aggie roll up in her “flag” truck when she came to pick mother up when they would go off to the casino to play bingo. (Aggie and her husband worked as a flag team to lead wide load vehicles.)

I had run into Aggie’s husband a few times in town — usually when he was in line at the pharmacy to pick up their prescriptions.

Needless to say, mother could hardly wait to spread the news about Aggie. Because she really had no one to tell as they were all at the bingo game last night, she called her brother in Minnesota at 6:30 this morning to tell him about it before she burst. (Mother had been up since 5 a.m. — her mind spinning all night).

Mother’s brother has no idea who Aggie is so mom provided the backstory before telling him about Aggie’s death. “Well, you know, Aggie was my age.” (As though that had a significance to the story.) Mother included all the bingo peep speculation as well.

As you can guess, mother wasn’t going to miss today’s bingo game, leaving with the comment that it would be interesting to hear what there was to say about Aggie today. She couldn’t get out of the door fast enough. Mother should be home soon with an update any time now. Hopefully Aggie is sitting at the great big bingo hall in the sky, yelling Bingo!