by Salamander Davis | December 17th, 2011
That dude in the motorcycle jacket, listening to something that is bringing him to tears. The touristy grey-haired woman sitting next to him with wagging-tail dog and doting husband. The Deloit business consultant, her tattooed writer/farmer friend, the skinny Asian from New Jersey who is used to rain and inclement weather, and the wise black man from whom they are soliciting advice. All of them. The little girl riding too fast on her bike and her worried dad hollering after her. The wonder-eyed Asian boy in the stroller whose life will go in directions neither of us can imagine. The dude with the tarantula pet and abundance of neck tattoos and his eclectic table of fellow regulars. The girl braving the fifty degree weather in a purple tank top and the woman next to me who thinks she must be from out of town, because all the locals like us are bundled up. The woman who wants a pair of brown corduroy pants, despite her knowledge of them being out of style. Them too. The boy cringing from the taste of some chocolate covered treat he just procured at the trinkets store next door. The confident and energetic lesbian who, if I recall correctly, loves James Taylor. The older, beret-wearing gentleman, strolling confidently along with a gift and card, heading perhaps to his new girlfriend’s place with just the right amount of hope. The same man returning twenty minutes later with a hint of dejection and loneliness on his face. The comfortable Saturday-morning-strolling couple who spontaneously decides they want to get coffee. The ugly little ear-raised pug, tied with a cheetah print leash to the parking meter in the rain, and the girl in the scarecrow hat that smiles at him. The curly-haired actress who signifies her remembrance of me with a smile, despite my three-month hiatus. The limping, but consistent and cheerful man who gives treats to every passing dog, at two o’clock every day. I’ve pick-pocketed all of their souls, tucking them away in my old-man artist sweater for some future unknown use.
We are the world, mothersucka!!!!