Meanwhile, somewhere in the heart of a snow-encrusted Minneapolis,
a lone woman, thoughtfully bug-eyed with distraction at the new operating
system installed on her computer, drifts back to a simpler, warmer time…
It is July, and I am waiting for the bus.
Minneapolis in the summertime! Is there a sweeter place? Winter has come and gone, the last of the
city’s monstrous top-secret snow pile, Mount Sears, swirling, clockwise, down
the grates and moving south. Women in
skirts, freshly freed from their layers, strut in heels, their naked knees
blinking in the sun. Men saunter, sans
snow shovels, heads bare, like seasonal parolees. Hanging flower baskets the size of kiddie pools hang
from lampposts, a profusion of color and scent.
Above us, the sky is a deep blue of the postcard variety,
a warm and endless expanse of giddy, temperate love.
Winter is over; and we are utterly grateful.
The bus stop at 7th and Nicollet is a
bustling, ever-changing menagerie of folk; and at this time of day, primarily made up of nine-to-five-ish commuters.
This does not bother Stephanie, the Tattoo-Faced
Woman.
Have you met Stephanie?
Stephanie has tattooed herself right out of gainful employment. A slender, attractive woman with surprisingly little compunction against going door-to-door begging for change, she is often
seen on her bicycle in my particular neck of the woods.
And there she is now, sitting on one of the large raised flower
beds that populate Nicollet Mall. She is
passing a joint to an Hispanic man with the build of a bowling ball and the
secret smile of the Buddha. Next to him
is a floor lamp, minus a shade but still sporting a light bulb.
He picks up the electric cord to the lamp, attempts to
plug it into Stephanie’s ear.
They laugh.
And I laugh, too.
I am not wearing boots. I am not wearing a coat that reaches
mid-calf. The weather today does not
make my eyes water or my skin hurt.
And that is all that matters.
The bus comes. Smiling,
I climb the steps, and move to the back of the bus.
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18 comments:
Hahaha!!! Mount Sears! We have one here in Central Ohio, too. Right there at the Indian Mound Mall.
Nice prose.
Every parking lot has its mountain. I envision a glowing golden orb descending over Guelph, spreading its heat over us as we stand frozen in the shade of the snow mountains. It is a long way off. Memories are all that is keeping us warm.
The fun part about those snow mountains is that they're still melting in June. :-)
We takes our fun where we gets it.
I took pictures of the foothills and mountains one day, with a blog post in mind. It was just too depressing; I deleted them. Perhaps if the sun had glinted off the ravines that day, but no....
Joanne, some days are just dreary. That's why I sometimes revert to things that happened almost a year ago. :-)
"their naked knees blinking in the sun" Ahahaha! I love your way with words, Pearl. And this made me wish I could be picked up, carried to the future, and plunked back down into the middle of summer. :)
I hope you are having a good week and are figuring out the new system.
Beautiful descriptions, Pearl. I recognize those days of blue skies and gratefulness, even though mine are in May because by July the weather is once again trying to kill me (the sun makes my eyes water and my skin hurt!)
I think that guy was making a pass at Stephanie. Just thought I'd throw that in there.
Here in NJ, we have glaciers on every street corner. I am told they will be gone by June.
Ah, reminiscing. Key to surviving a Northern winter. Hope.
You almost made me like summer. Almost.
I remember Stephanie (or, at least, your story about her.) As a Christian man, I find it fairly reprehensible when someone tries to guilt me into giving them something by asking me if I am one. If the person didn't start with that spiel, I probably would have given some change, maybe a buck. I'm a soft touch and a Christian man. But when you try to play on my guilt... no, even if it's the nicest day of the year.
Is she in confession?
Hanging flower baskets the size of kiddie pools, I like the sound of that, it would brighten up the dreariest street for sure.
Did the lamp work?
Did you see the one about icicles in Chicago's toilets? That is just not right.
"...naked knees blinking in the sun." One of the best lines I've read in a while. This was a good one Pearl (actually, all of them are).
They're seriously considering using Edmonton's snow pile as the site for the next Winter Olympics. Sigh.
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