Strange Day
I stopped to visit a friend who was brutally assaulted and raped at Burning Man a few years ago. He's recovering still - the latest, a botched surgery to repair torn intestines led to leaks inside. He rests, listening to loud sixties progressive rock while he trims the leaves from the buds. Cannabis is his business, and it's bustling. Giant green monsters grow in his garden, the whole house smells of earth and dirty gym socks. When I see it all in this form, I find it surprising that anyone smokes it at all. Others have noticed the leviathons in his yard - he's been robbed, twice, to the tune of $20k. Completely licensed to grow, he reported the crime to the local authorities. I take pleasure in knowing that there is at least one Sheriff working to recover stolen weed.
I'm then off to complete a stupid car repair and receive a call from Mother that our missing claim file has been located by what must be the one cool cat at the Veterans Administration. This is good news. We're that much closer to settlement, and after four years, we're very ready.
While at the mechanic, I learn that a dear friend had died. I'm invited to come sit with her body. I leave the mechanic and an hour later I am kissing the cold forehead of a dead poet in her living room.
I'm next at Whole Foods buying dinner and I notice a pretty girl panhandling. She's walking with her baby on her chest in a strapped-on front pack, which always get me excitedly anticipating a circus act that never happens. This young mother is nicely dressed in gear from REI, including an expensive sun hat. I watch her walk towards an older man exiting the market and she says, "I need a few dollars for a way to get home." The man gives her a dollar. She walks, bouncing on her Teva sport sandals to the free organic pinneapple samples and quickly shoves several into her pockets, one slice in her mouth, and one for her baby. A woman approaches and the young mother receives a scournful denial when she asks for money. No problem. A few more samples of pinneaple and she heds off, hopefully in the direction of home.
Remembering this afternoon got me to thinking, which is always a danger for everyone involved.
I'm then off to complete a stupid car repair and receive a call from Mother that our missing claim file has been located by what must be the one cool cat at the Veterans Administration. This is good news. We're that much closer to settlement, and after four years, we're very ready.
While at the mechanic, I learn that a dear friend had died. I'm invited to come sit with her body. I leave the mechanic and an hour later I am kissing the cold forehead of a dead poet in her living room.
I'm next at Whole Foods buying dinner and I notice a pretty girl panhandling. She's walking with her baby on her chest in a strapped-on front pack, which always get me excitedly anticipating a circus act that never happens. This young mother is nicely dressed in gear from REI, including an expensive sun hat. I watch her walk towards an older man exiting the market and she says, "I need a few dollars for a way to get home." The man gives her a dollar. She walks, bouncing on her Teva sport sandals to the free organic pinneapple samples and quickly shoves several into her pockets, one slice in her mouth, and one for her baby. A woman approaches and the young mother receives a scournful denial when she asks for money. No problem. A few more samples of pinneaple and she heds off, hopefully in the direction of home.
Remembering this afternoon got me to thinking, which is always a danger for everyone involved.
posted by Lord Erstwhile Hopton at 9:57 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home