Sitting at the coffee shop I had a unique moment or maybe it was very normal, but either way it actually occurred. I sat down to a table by the window so I could watch the cars go by and the sun finish setting, leaving the sky dark blue and full of clouds. The coffee shop was maybe half full, at best. Behind me sat a few high school girls talking about high school things. They seemed to be enjoying each other's company, telling little stories and laughing intermittently. A thin middle aged man came to the counter and ordered a tea for a his sore throat. He said he hoped it would help since he was on his way to coach high school varsity basketball so he needed his voice at full power.
The real gem of the evening were the three elderly seniors talking by the fireplace. I'm not sure if they were three old friends, or a small club or three people who had fallen to the fate of Rip Van Winkle and were trying their best to piece together how the world had changed. The slightly portly gentleman and the gray haired-smiling woman sat in adjacent armchairs and the taller man with an arching forehead sat on the edge of the fireplace holding council over their little gathering.
The taller man would say something like, "Now canned goods, that's the real ticket. With cans there's no expiration date, or if there is, it doesn't come for a long, long time. Saves you a lot of time worrying if something's gone bad or not. Mhmm, cans are real good, least that's what I say."
Then the others would nod or murmur in agreement. The more portly gentleman might have added, "My favorite is Cream of Mushroom soup because its one of the few things I can still stand to put pepper on. I've always liked a bit of pepper from time to time."
"Oh pepper! That's a real fine thing.", the taller man might reply, "You ever make yourself eggs? Maybe on a Sunday morning? Add a little pepper there; that's real nice"
The portly man mumbled that he did enjoy eggs, but his stomach couldn't handle pepper on them anymore.
"Sometimes the hardest thing is eating healthy these days", The gray haired woman said from her armchair.
"I hardly ever drink soda, you know.", boasted the man sitting on the fireplace.
"Because it doesn't taste very good?"
"No, that's not it at all! Have you had a soda recently? Wow, they sure are tasty! But they're just carbonated water and sugar, that can't be healthy."
Again they all nodded and said, "That sure is true."
The man with the high forehead, sitting by the fireplace continued, "Well to be honest, my real weak spot is cream cheese. My, oh my, it sure is good. I can go through a whole pound of cream cheese before the expiration date, I sure can. That date comes fast too! Somthing like five days after you buy it, but when I buy cream cheese, its always gone by that date. You know what, tonight when I go home I think I might have some cream cheese on crackers for dinner."
"Just crackers and cream cheese and nothing else?", the gray haired woman asked
"Yep, just crackers and the cream cheese."
"No preparation there at least.", the gray haired woman ventured.
They probably talked about some other things, but they didn't stay much longer. I thought the three of them were just great. Sitting there, somberly, happily talking about such little things as if discovering them for the first time and discussing the merits of these simple things.
The Tallest Man On Earth
Love is All
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