My New Friend Sam and a Prophet Arrives At The Bus Stop
An unexpected romance may be developing between Scruffy Insurance Guy and Freckles. After accepting his apology for anything he may have said or done to offend her, she shared her seat with him on the ride home. Turns out that they have a mutual acquaintance. His college roommate and best friend (now a successful attorney) was the high school sweetheart of her younger sister. They went to both the Junior and Senior Prom together. What a small world.
Annabel Lee is dressed in blue jeans today rather than her usual black. Must be casual Friday.
Something is off with Scout. I noticed him limping today, dragging his left foot on the pavement. Rather than strike his typical Avenger pose in the center of the intersection, he clung to the Stop sign with one hand until the bus arrived. I heard him say quietly to himself:
“There’s no other way to explain it. You just got to get in there and get beaten up. You have to sharpen your focus into a laser beam. Sometimes you even have to re-wire your brain so you can get it right.”
Strange bus day. There’s Mitchell who is actually an elderly woman who always wears a sailor type cap with the name “Mitchell” embroidered across the back. She eats an entire bag of potato chips every morning and doesn’t waste a crumb. Mitchell is listening to a video on her cell phone without headphones. It’s a motivational piece about how some of us are all alone in the world but how we should never despair.
Then there’s Creepy who scares everyone with the nonsense he sputters like “Where’s your loyalty?” Today he’s reading a book on witchcraft. It looks like a library book but he’s bent all the pages and broken the spine.
If there is a pharmacy in hell it would look a lot like the CVS in Central Square, Cambridge MA.
Sam usually hangs out at the entrance to the store holding an empty Dunkin Donuts coffee cup. It’s perhaps noteworthy that people have less spare change nowadays since they carry less cash. I often share my breakfast with Sam. He told me about his sister’s house on the beach in Newport, Rhode Island. There are roses in the garden that never fade and the windows look out onto the sea. She’s apparently very rich and has invited him down to spend the summer. “I’ll go the beach every day. I know a secret place. It’s so beautiful there.”
I suggested he visit sooner to escape the winter weather in the city.
“No, no“ he assured me “I wouldn’t miss Boston in the winter for anything. It makes me feel so alive.”
I pass a garden today and am reminded of the roses that Sam remembers from his sister’s home. October roses are particularly resilient, refusing to fade even though the rain has washed all the green out of the trees and the rest of the garden has already surrendered.
Didn’t have the heart to tell a bunch of tourists today that the Red Sox gear they purchased was bogus. Hopefully no one back home will notice that the baseball caps read “Boton Red Sox.”
A homeless man who self identified as John the Baptist arrived at the bus stop today. He had an unlit cigarette tucked behind his right ear and a plastic container of croissants in his left hand. A dirty blanket was draped over his shoulders and trailed behind him as he walked down the street. “Whosoever believeth in me shall not perish but have everlasting life”, he assured me.
I often wonder why Autumn often referred to as “the dying of the year”? It is the one time of the year in which I feel most alive.
