The infamous Danny

If there’s a Ferrari in the parking-lot, it’s Danny. (iPhone photo by BobbaLew.)

—Yesterday (Saturday, November 7th) Yr Fthfl Srvnt had the consummate pleasure of meeting “Danny Wegman,” scion of Mighty Weggers.
Danny is the son Bob Wegman, the founder of Wegmans.
I had to purchase a memory-chip for my camera, and to do that I hafta motor into Rochester.
Driving there I’d pass the new Calkins Road Weggers, what I call “the Palace.” Clock-tower, spires, the whole kibosh.
This is a grocery store? It’s not the “jewel-in-the-crown:” the gigantic Pittsford-Plaza Wegmans that has a two-story section.
I needed coleslaw and baked beans for my Saturday-night meal, so I figured I’d use the new Calkins Road Weggers.
In the store I passed two gentlemen, one kempt and showered, and the other looking like he just got outta bed.
Ruddy complexion, and Danny is ruddy complexion. But his hair was all matted and disheveled. He looked like a Walmart shopper, but no pajamas.
He was telling some lady she’d do fine after surgery; that he did.
“Knee-replacement?” I asked.
“Nope. Shoulder replacement,” he said, pointing to his left shoulder.
I pointed to my left knee: “no longer the one I was born with.”
We continued, me in search of baked-beans and applesauce.
The store is so big ya need a powered shopping cart.
We crossed paths again.
“Any chance you guys can tell me where the applesauce and baked beans are? Ya look like store employees, and this isn’t the Wegmans I normally shop.”
They turned to help, and I noticed “Danny” on the name-tag of the ruddy one.
“Wait a minute,” I said. “Yer not the infamous “Danny” who owns a Ferrari, are ya?”
“I own a Ferrari,” Danny whispered.
“And your name is on the store, right?
A few years ago I returned to my south Jersey roots, and there in the gigantic parking lot of the defunct Garden-State-Park horse-race track was a Mighty Weggers.”
“Cherry Hill Wegmans,” Danny said.
“And my first stop returning from Altoona (PA) is the Wegmans in Williamsport,” I said. “You guys are taking over the entire planet!”
Danny collared a cute store employee. “Will you please take this nice gentleman to the applesauce and baked beans?”
“‘Nice gentleman’ my foot!” I said. “My sister called me a bleeding-heart liberal.”
Sorry Danny; you looked frail. I no longer see the full-of-life CEO I saw just a few years ago.
I hope he’s okay.
I tell my lifeguard friend at Canandaigua’s YMCA swimming-pool the marbles still work pretty good, but everything else is falling apart.
We’re getting old Danny. You may own a Ferrari, but you can’t take it with you.

• The photograph is old (2013). Wegmans began using a new marquee on its stores a while ago. The car is also old, but fairly recent. To my mind, it’s the best-looking Ferrari Danny ever owned — although it’s probably only a V8.
• Per my math, Danny is age-73. Not as old as me, but almost.
• When I was a child, we lived near the gigantic “Garden-State-Park” horse-race track in south Jersey. Its grandstand burned many times, and I guess the track eventually failed. Garden-State-Park had large parking facilities, and was also served by a railroad spur.