So i go to this little burrito place downtown concord NH
in this burrito place is this man who's name i always forget
i met this man one day waiting in line to order a burrito, tofu and spinach with no rice, yogurt, and wheat tortilla
he was looking at me but not in the creepy way
in a curious way like a longing hoping that maybe i would notice him too
he looks old, round, with a humongous head with no visible neck.
he wears fairly new but similar clothing each time and a baseball cap.
he is always holding a plastic cup of water.
i spoke first, i said hello
he responded with a hello are you japanese?
i said no
he said what are you a korean?
i said no i am a chinese
he said he know china and that sometimes it was known as tokyo and sometimes as bangkok
at times he thinks it might be called virginia but who knows
he told me that there was a man that snuck up to him one day and chopped his right pointer finger off and he did not know why he did it.
he said this person was his adopted father and he has been a disappointment as far as guardians go
i told him i was sorry for his finger loss
he did not hear me and instead continued on
i used to have a paper route he said i was not very good at it
i was late sometimes and would get confused as to where the papers go at each house because the stoops were long or not there and sometimes there would be doors and he did not know what to do then
i said yes, at times doors can cause confusion but not condescendingly but truthfully i said this while staring at my arm with a bruise that was due to a door i had walked into. it was a pull door, no a push.
he continued with the fact that his father needed to give him his money from all his paper routes because he was his guardian and he did not do this and instead gave him a jar of coins but the coins confused him because there were too many and the bank does not take coins by themselves you have to order them special.
while he spoke he did not pause it was a whole sentence with no beginning or end
i did not want to stop him but my burrito was ready and i was really hungry
so i gave him a nod and said i apologize but i have to go because i have a burrito and i would like to eat it but you are more than welcome to sit with me while i eat said burrito
he did not stop telling his story so i sat and he continued speaking from across the room while i ate my burrito and the whole time he was looking directly at me
i nodded and smiled accordingly, finished my burrito, then went over, saw his water cup was empty, filled it for him and returned it to his hand. he did not flinch his hand remained in the same position as if the cup were still there. when i returned the cup full, he took a long drink, finished it's contents and said thank you. i said of course and that was the end of our conversation apparently
water can do that.
ReplyDeleteyou've always been a thoughtful person :)
ReplyDeleteyou're a beautiful writer.
ReplyDeleteawww thanks you guys!
ReplyDelete