@Roberta,
Nah.
We would not know it was dark if there was no light side.
@Thomas,
I'm so glad (makes me smile) that you can hang out in New York City..
@Thomas,
You can bitch at NYC , but at a much higher level of understanding.
TURNIPS AND PROSTITUTES
A lady has been coming into my store for 35 years. She is now, I think, in her mid 70's. She is from Norway by birth, has lived in the U.S. for most of her life but still has a heavy accent.
She has, I have noticed in the last couple of years, started to tell stories to me.
She knew from when she was a child that she wanted to be an artist, but her parents discouraged her in the post WW2 situation. So she ended up, as a young teenager, going to an agricultural co-op as a bookkeeper. She was incompetent at the job as were her supervisors. She filled out forms in which they remitted 10% of the proceeds from the turnip crop to the government in Oslo quarterly. She made up the numbers, not from fraud but from ignorance of the data.
At the end of the year, she was expected to submit an annual report. She made up those numbers also and mailed it off. That night, she realized that her quarterly numbers didn't at all correlate with her annual numbers.
She caught the early train to Oslo and waited for the postman outside the big, yellow Agriculture building. She asked for the envelope back, and he gave it to her. She caught a train back and re-did the numbers.
And then she ran away. She ended up in another city (I thought I heard the name but can't find it in my atlas) where there was a great art school. For weeks she would tag along with a professor and students as they toured studios filled with naked female models lying on sofas. It turns out they were prostitutes, paid by the hour to come in out of the cold.
She sketched, eventually got admitted and acheived her dream of being an artist.
Sorry for the long post, but this lady was so animated in the telling that staff and customers were mesmerized.
@realjohnboy,
Realjohnboy, that was a great post; I only wish it was longer.
I don't so much know if this caused me to smile as much as it made me wonder about:
LIVING IN TWO WORLDS
A lady came into my store today. She knew what she wanted and where it was. I rang her out. She started to leave but then turned and asked "How long has this store been here?" I replied, "35 years." She asked, "How long have you been here?" "35 years."
"Are you getting bored with it?" I had to say yes but that I am now semi-retired and, thank god, have another interest that occupies much of my time these days. I have moved on to living in a different world and my core-group of employees now do things, like rearranging the store, without bothering to consult me.
A week ago we had the false Spring that we get every year. Four days of 70 degree plus weather and flowers and trees start blooming, and people seem a lot more cheerful and optomistic. But then the world of winter fights back. It started snowing and sleeting last night and into today. Nothing serious, but a reality check.
I was standing by the door facing Main Street, watching the snow fall but not stick. There is a bus stop. A bus landed and a bunch of people got off, including 5 young women, clearly from UVA. They stood in a circle for a minute or two. Animated chatter, laughter and spirited gestures that the young (and Italians?) have. I couldn't hear what they were talking about, but they looked to be happy kids in their late teens.
5 young women, wearing jeans that were quite tight and sweat shirts. Two of them wore black head scarves and another a bright colored one. The other two were bare-headed.
Sure enough, as I expected, they crossed the street and headed east for a 100 yards. They walked past a property I am working on developing and headed down what amounts to an alley but has a slightly more lofty name: 10 1/2 Street. At the end is a small house that is our local mosque.
Five young women, living in two worlds.
@realjohnboy,
RJB. You are a natural writer. It is SO easy to read your descriptions.
JLN
@realjohnboy,
rjb, Enjoyed all your "short" stories on this thread. Hope you will entertain us with many more. T.
The first crocuses breaking through the soil in Central Park made me smile today. I wonder if I'll see them blossom on my next run there, scheduled for Sunday in a week.
@dlowan,
Remember that dark and light are "summarizing" metaphors that have little descriptive value. As such, light and dark "sides" of life are not clear contrasts.
Every spring for the last 3-4 years I lament the old stand of witch hazel that had been cut down to clear the way for a nearby construction site. Today I went for a walk, in part to see if I could find other witch hazels. I did. I recalled a few at the JFK park on Memorial Drive (they're glorious right now). On the way back, I found a new clump someone planted near a newly constructed pathway that connects 2 parts of the Harvard U campus. I could smell that clump of 4-6 plants from the sidewalk. Big smile.
I was smiling watching my friends Katrin and Markus. Good friends, I hope this will continue for a long time.
Our neighborhood racoon. She had a litter in the hollow of a tree next to the house. I'm guessing it's her coming back for another round. We'll see....
This morning, in a Philadelphia Sports Club, I learn that Groucho Marx is alive and well in the Philadelphia flirting scene.
I'm getting in my one-hour cardio workout on the elliptical trainer. Also working out, on the machines to my right, is a pair of friends: two women, each about 25-30 years old. A guy walks past. He's about the same age as the ladies, and of about average attractiveness for the gym's male clientele. He smiles at the lady right next to me and makes her a compliment: "You're looking just great today!" She makes a bored and weary face and replies her "thanks" in a bored and weary tone. Her would-be knight takes the hint and keeps walking.
Thirty seconds later, my neighbor awakens. Her voice turning from weary to exasperated, she asks her friend: "Why can't any nice guy ever hit on me?!" Her friend inquires, "what do you mean, 'nice guy'?". "Well, certainly not that kind of guy." (Nods into the general direction of the cavalier.) The friend insists: "Oh really -- not 'that' kind, huh. What kind are you talking about?" Here the conversation starts to meander, so I have to abbreviate a bit. The answer, in a nutshell, is: "the kind who would hit on a girl in a gym."
That was my first big smile today.
***
Many more big smiles followed, not to mention the many good laughs, as I met Jespah and her friend M for lunch, then for an afternoon at the Cezanne exhibition in the Art Museum, and finally for dinner. (M's brother joined us for lunch and Cezanne, M's boyfriend for dinner.) Jespah and M are easily two of the most funny and interesting persons I've ever met.
***
On the way from the car to the Italian restaurant where we had dinner, we pass a store for pet supplies. From the display window, my eye glides up to the sign that displays the name of the shop: DOGGIE STYLE. I wonder what kind of owners would pick a name like this for their store? Anyway, they certainly got my attention. (And yes, this was in one of Philadelphia's more colorful neighborhoods.)
***
As far as smiles are concerned, today's harvest was especially rich.
actually it was last evening the lady Diane and i were just out for a drive and happened to find ourselves in the center of down town albuquerque and there was a very long queue for a concert (several blocks long) and the traffic was horrific so was we inched along Central Ave I noticed a sign near the crosswalk;
NO *******
NO PISSING
NO PANHANDLING
NO PERVERSIONS
@Thomas,
You met Jespah?
That would make me smile too. Glad you had a good time.
