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city life Reg seeks “the girl with the dominoes”
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91-year-old Oasis resident, Reg Grant, is seeking a young woman with dominoes whom he met briefly on a bench overlooking the Grand Canal on a late afternoon in early June this year. Reg, who was the first buyer at the Oasis Luxury Retirement Resort and who has lived at Oasis since May 2007, loves Century City and takes a daily walk along the Grand Canal. This is his story.
It was the beginning of June and, as I wandered along beside the canal, I decided to take a rest on an empty bench. I had not been there long before I was joined by two lovely African ladies. The one next to me had a small box and I noticed it contained a set of dominoes that appeared to have been hand-made from ivory and to have been well used. I got lost in thought reflecting on the stories that might be stored in them. She kept turning them over and then turned to me and asked: “Do you play dominoes?” I answered truthfully that I did not, and then daydreamed about how I used to play dominoes all those long years ago. Still daydreaming, I got up, and as I walked away it struck me how that young woman had made an effort to open up a conversation and how I had refused her. It hit me in the solar plexus and it hurt. I had turned my back on an opportunity to talk to someone who was born into a way of life
different from my own. What a fool I was! How I now regret not talking to her! I have been back to that bench again, looking for her, but no such luck. If you are “the girl with the dominoes”, please contact me
on regrant@iafrica.com. I regret so much not responding to your “cry from the heart” to talk to me! Please forgive me and let us open up a conversation and learn from each other. We have so much to share.
“i had turned my back on an opportunity to talk to someone who was born into a way of life different from my own.”