I was going to do a post today about the way the Republican members of congress are trying to trample women's reproductive rights. I was going to weave that theme in with a few pop culture highlights, then finish the whole thing with the mashed potato and green bean recipes I didn't give you with yesterdays post, hopefully making the whole thing fun instead of offensive. That's what I was going to do. I'm going to tell you about my walk instead.
I didn't sleep well last night. A friend of mine needed me to go with him to housing court today, but I have an appointment this morning. This is probably his last hurrah before the banks take his house. He was obviously distraught, raging at the injustice of it all, the failures of the government, how his enemies will gloat, how he moved furniture for years to buy that house, how they're stealing his labor. It was paranoid, it was true, it was spin, it was about mistakes in life made and not made. It was me with a little bad luck.
Yeah, it's all about me. So after a night of tossing and turning I just had to get out of here. Out my front door and into the sunshine. The sky is really blue today and you can feel a hint of spring in the air. The sidewalks are finally clear after months of unshoveled snow. As I head toward the T station everything is still quiet. The yoga studio is closed, so is the tattoo parlor, someone is inside the liquor store but that's closed too. The rent-a-car lot has a couple of young hispanic kids wiping down the cars, a woman in a green blazer is visible at the computer at the front desk. I wave to the kids, they don't wave back. Both are wearing earbuds; I'm not even on their radar.
I keep walking. There's a small gang at the White Hen. They're drinking cheap coffee, smoking cheap cigarettes, and filing in and out for scratch tickets as they convert their 2 dollar winnings into another roll of the dice. I buy a paper, it's early but there are only 4 on the stack. If I come back tonight there will still be 2, soon they won't carry the paper at all. No need for it around here. I pass the bus stop, but it's empty. School is closed for the February break. People schedule trips to Disney land, you can't have school interfere with that even though the kids have already missed almost 2 weeks worth of classes because of snow. What hardship could going late in the summer cause? A kid losing out on a summer job?Hundreds of people trying to learn in unair-conditioned 80 degree buildings?
I skip "Mark's Deli". It's a nifty little slice of the 50's buried directly under the railroad tracks. Unfortunately I've got some pounds to shed by summer so the siren call of cheese omelet with a side of ham has to be resisted. I pop into "Sweet Things" instead for a coffee. Will power is required here too, there's a Mom/daughter team baking away, but I don't like sweets in the morning the way I like eggs. Both women are cheerful and welcoming but the place isn't exactly mobbed. Maybe later in the morning, right now I'm the only foot traffic and the car people are at Dunkin Donuts.
I back track a little then curl behind the downtown stores to amble along the river. The ice is gone, but the water is really high. I pray for a slow thaw and light rain this year. Back in 2006 the river rose to where I'm walking now. It reached the sidewalk across from my condo. That must be the worse feeling ever. The slow end. You can see the bad stuff coming. You can't do anything to stop it though. Maybe things end at the sidewalk across the street, maybe they end at your front steps, or maybe they end in your living room. All you can do is watch. I think of my friend at court. The slow end.
I have to get ready for my appointment so I cut up an ally to Washington Street. There are 2 latin guys struggling with a big barrel of grease from the restaurant that fronts the street. There is a spanish section of Haverhill but this isn't it. They have to jump a curb to get the thing over by their truck. It's full so I'm guessing 4 or 5 hundred pounds. I think about helping, but I'm old and dressed for my appointment. Sorry guys, back in the day....
Washington Street is empty, there aren't even any cars. The winter parking rules still apply. I need to get going, but the sunshine has lulled me into stroll mode. I pass Toma's, Archies' Place, Lounge 57, The Chit Chat, The Lasting Room, Hun Garden, Andinos, The Garibaldi Club; it's little Bourbon Street some weekends. Today in the daylight it just looks empty. There's no reason to be there unless you want food or a fortified beverage. I pass Sweet Things again. It's still quiet inside even though everything in their display case is better than everything in Dunkin Donuts display case. The slow end. Do they see it coming.
I fire up my car and pull out onto River Street. The river is really moving. Clumps of ice rocketing towards the Atlantic. How high has it climbed the banks? It's still only February. I want to call my friend, but the coward in me doesn't want to know. The slow end. It can't hurt the sunshine but it's seems to be there always just in the distance. Mashed potatoes and green beans tomorrow. We'll see about the pop culture and the feminism.
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