There’s a lot of accidental love in the world despite so much crass indifference.

The first snow of the year differed by one degree from rain, shimmering down,

instead of falling. She called saying she had to tear herself away from work

for a few seconds just to share the phenomenon, somehow, if only through the

inventive magic of A. G. Bell. The tone through newly created fiber-optic lines

was as musical, the uninhibited joy was, at that high pitch, & in that realm of

tactile closeness from a distance, it could have been an actual whisper in her

presence, but wasn’t, containing the added timbre of shared longing, so that it

may never stop snowing in memory.

 

Today’s another story. The day before Thanksgiving, early morning at Starbucks,

Tanya says it’s ok that she doesn’t have tomorrow off, Portland is her family; in

the afternoon at Browne Trading, Parker says his day’s going better now that he

sees me, which I throw back at him; then Said chimes in with the first of three

handshakes; while Adam gives me a break on the smoked Scottish salmon I

know my brain will need to recoup by Friday morning. It’s amazing. Accidental

love in the world despite so much crass indifference. Laurie had her sneakers

untied when she carried a small fridge through the door I held open for her earlier

in the afternoon, little did I know she’d begun her day at 5:00 working at the

supermarket. Let alone the erotic aura surrounding both faces of Martha & Amy,

the latter whom in another context I might be tempted to call Mary.

 

By dusk the little African kid in the parking lot walking from the sidewalk on

Forest Ave did another good turn, holding the door open for me when I entered

RSVP for San Pelligrino & Chilean cabernet, “Are  you the doorman?” I asked.

“No.” “Well, I am in real life, & people tip me all the time, here, take this.”

“Thank you.” With two bucks he went straight to the cooler behind the registers,

where Chris can be found if you look hard enough, Phil will talk sports, or carry

Italian water out to the car, & Garret will offer all the respect your age didn’t

know it deserved. In the mean time, the kid will pull out a couple of good-sized

Pepsis from the cooler, thinking his next good turn could be rewarded, too.

Right?