It is a typical Saturday morning for me; awake too early, in the cold morning bedroom. I spend too much time on the hair, braiding it, deciding I did a good job, and taking the usual blurry photos to remember it by. More time is wasted as I edit the photos that no one else is likely to see.
By the time I get down the stairs there is little time
before I must leave. I have some of the overnight oats that is prepared and
ready to drink, put on my shoes and jacket, and head out. I heft the computer bag into the back seat of
the car, and lower myself into the driver seat.
The drive is uneventful as usual, with the exception of a “Dudley Do-right”
who cannot go a whit over the speed limit for a section of my drive. I usually average around 4 mph over the speed limit on
days like today – when I am feeling that I left the house a couple minutes
late.
Despite anything I arrive in the library parking lot a
full 5 minutes before they open.
Sitting in the car I leave the engine running for heat
and to listen to the rest of the song- out of respect for a long-gone group who
only had 2 records climb the charts – according to the dj.
The Tremeloes sing Silence Is Golden as I wait in the car for the song to finish. Two minutes before the library opening, I get out of the car, haul the computer bag out, and head toward the doors.
A voice says, “Good morning.”
I turn to look along the lockers to the bench and see
a man sitting there.
He is eating spaghetti out of a foil package. The strands of spaghetti pasta have the
reddish tinge of marinara sauce as they dangle off his fork on the way to his
mouth. He is hunched over, leaning toward his meal.
“Why is it so cold?” he asks me.
I reply, “because it’s Illinois.”
He chuckles and keeps eating his meal.
It was the warm, friendly repartee one has with a
stranger on the street in passing.
It was the kind of interaction I live for.
It is the kind of interaction I do not get enough of,
and I consider talking to the man some more, while I think about who eats
spaghetti out of foil, outdoors in the cold weather. Probably a homeless person. Nothing against him for whatever his reason
is for what he is doing. I decide that we
both had enjoyed our tiny conversation and let it go. That part: the letting it go, that is what
makes these interactions so special.
The Tremeloes: Silence is Golden
 |
| from October 2023 |
...
..
