she just needs help getting down the stairs.
Then across the street.
"Have you ever been to Tony's Antiques and Collectibles?" she asks.
I tell her no. I try to keep it simple because she’s asked me that a hundred times already before, and I know she’ll ask me at least three more times before this is over.
Now we are about to pass the big crack in the sidewalk.
I lie and tell her I have a pizza in the oven, and I really have to get back when we are almost to the gas station.
She pretended she didn’t hear me and said
“doesn’t it look like there’s pennies all over the sidewalk?!”
I sigh and decide to take her all the way today. I’d feel like shit if anything happened to her just because I wanted to play GTA IV.
The only good thing about her shot to hell memory is that she won’t question me about my fictional pizza.
We are walking so slow time is standing effing still, so I ask her if she has any kids.
“No, but I’ve had a lot of abortions” she replies, as she stops and re-adjusts her glasses with one of those old people grunts that let you know that this simple action is really takin’ it out of ‘em.
We are to the Korean grocery store when I finish the math—she must have had “a lot” of abortions back in the 40s and 50s.
Shit.
That was back in the day when it was all back alleys, bleach, and coat hangers.
She just wanted a quart of milk, so I get it and the girl at the counter puts it in a black plastic bag and we continue.
It has already been half an hour and we have only been a block and half and she has to stop for a rest.
“Have you been down to Tony’s Antiques and Collectibles down there on Gladstone?” she asks.
I just say that I need to get going and we need to start walking again.
“Too bad Tony’s Antiques and Collectibles is closed on the weekends. They have some very curious things in there” she says as I take her arm and get her to her feet.
I wonder about the black bag. It’s like we just bought a copy of Barely Legal or something.
We approached Tony’s Antiques and Collectibles when I sigh and realize that for some ungodly reason, Tony is selling Antiques and Collectibles on a Saturday.
“Oh my, Tony is open today. You must stop in and see his antiques and collectibles!”
I tell her I have no time for pursuing his wares today, but promise to stop by another day. For some reason, calling things “wares” really seems to resonate with her and we move on.
We are almost back when she stops and says
“I like the sound of children laughing.”
There were 3 girls and 4 boys in front of a green and red house throwing water balloons at each other and screeching.
We cross the street and she watches them from for awhile. I figure at this point we’ve taken an hour to go one square block, so what’s another few minutes.
She doesn’t notice a little girl directly behind us, sitting on the lawn of her house also watching the kids across the street. The scene was set up like some commercial from the Mormons. Kids playing in the yard, a young man helping an old lady walk, an outcast kid watching the fun from afar. I brace myself for some family-friendly trope in voice over to come and frame the situation with some sort of morality, but I’m distracted by the lonely kid’s mother, who is bent over in short shorts, working in the garden. I’ve never seen camel toe from this angle, so I’m taking in the view.
She stands up and I think catches me looking at her so me and Leona continue up back to her apartment in silence.
She won’t let me help her get the door unlocked, and she’s wheezing so hard I swear she’s going to die any minute. Never have I seen unlocking a door be so much of a trial.
I put her black bagged milk in the refrigerator and I tell her I need to go now.
For the first time she just says “o.k.” and doesn’t beg me to stay and somewhere inside I take offense to this, even though I really don’t want to stay.
My hand still smells like old lady, so when I get upstairs to my unit, I wash them.
No comments:
Post a Comment