Tuesday, July 26, 2005 This here's called a narrative arc. Ever heard of it?
All day at work, there was a battle royale in my mind between the impulse to get a pizza on the way home and the realization that then I'd have to walk home carrying a pizza. I know that carrying a big cake from Safeway is a big hit on Charles St., and I figured that with a pizza, I'd go heckled-platinum. Also, I am broke, and we can't have nice pizza.
At work today I was able to really make a man excited about buying a sixteen dollar tub of pomade, so in three months, when I receive my retail comission for this quarter, my envelope will be a dollar-sixty heavier. I thought and thought about where to spend it before it came to me: I know something that costs $1.60 exactly!
After work, you better believe I headed for that bus stop. I arrived first. Next came a woman about my age, dressed all in white. She sat at the far end of the bench inside the shelter, and began to moan. Eventually, she spoke. "Batteries!" she said. "Batteries, batteries!" She searched through her bag and found them, after she'd pulled out several things, including a bottle of crown royale. Then she put them in her CD player and removed herself from our non-interaction except for the occaisional burst of song or bout of finger snapping.
A few moments later, I watched a man come staggering across the street. He had a hairstyle that is popular among cartoon mad scientists, and not a tooth in his mouth. He entered the shelter and sat down next to me. "It's my birthday today," he said.
"It is? Happy birthday!" I said.
He nodded, and the woman at the other end of the bench yelled-sang, "Diamonds are forever!"
The man asked me for a cigarette, which I gave him, and he said, "I thank you for your kindness."
We sat and stared reflectively out at St. Paul for a while, and the woman sang and danced while sitting down. "It was a hot one today, wasn't it?" he said.
I agreed that it was, but added that I'd been inside in airconditioning all day, and he nodded politely. Then I felt bad for bragging about that kind of thing to a homeless dude, and I looked down. He was wearing a very famliar pair of white hightops, no laces.
"Do you think the world's going to end?" he asked.
I didn't answer immediately.
"Do you think the world's going end?" he asked again. "With all those solidiers dying?"
"There's my bus!" I said. For a second I was afraid it would leave without me, because in my rush to leave, the strap on my purse caught on a corner of the bench, but I dislodged it and made it onto the 3.
The woman in white got on behind me. She sat in the middle seat of the very back row, and she snapped her fingers all the way to my stop. posted by Frenz | 7/26/2005 09:04:00 PM
0 comments
|
