« So Long, Captain | Main | I am sick, but getting better »
February 6, 2004
To Shreds
I am now the proud owner of a crosscut paper shredder! Woo-hoo! Now nobody can go dumpster diving and ferret out out my personal information. It ain't their business!
I like my privacy, but that's not the real point of this entry. The point is that as I was going through years of old documents (bills, receipts, etc.), I came across a buried green folder with some of my writing in it.
I opened the folder, and right on top was an interesting piece from a night at the local coffee house several years ago. I had gone there, bought a hot cup of tea, found a seat in a corner I could disappear into, and wrote down what I saw in a kind of stream-of-consciousness way. Here it is.
Yellowed wooden floors, worn by years of lives, blackened between the boards from every day's problems, varnished to cover up years of neglect, to start a new floor.
Man in black, not Johnny, standing with guitar behind a slender microphone stand mocking the man because it is thinner than he, dressed in black shirt, black jeans, black shoes, black hair-- thinning, a bit-- clear glasses standing out from his face, wrapped his feet in electric cables so we may hear his music-- folksy, mellow, soothing.
Nervous couple, on a date-- she pretty in green (pastel) shirt and faded blue jeans, hair swept back and to the side of tan face, soft skin, arms crossed not knowing what to do with them, talking for the sake of conversation, he in lumberjack plaid, dark blue jeans, curly brown hair with beard, staring, but trying not to, at pretty girl, he talks to make her like him... they laugh together.
Crowd, talking, laughing, chattering in mixed tones, volumes, pitches, standing, sitting, getting up, sitting down, walking, waiting in line, looking, listening, not looking, each on a mission to buy coffee, tea, a brownie, or some ice cream, picking, shuffling, greeting, looking again, recognizing, wandering, waving, smiling, planning next step, primping, checking, wandering, identifiying possibilities.
As I read this today, for the first time in what must be many years, I was amazed that not only had I totally forgotten having written this (I love finding things I've forgotten about), but that I was quickly able to reconstruct the scene in my mind and place myself back there on that night. I can still smell the aroma from the tea.
Don't worry. I didn't shred it.
TTFN.
Posted by Savage Steve at February 6, 2004 4:26 PM