Standing more than six feet away from a group of people I catch a snipped of a conversation in which someone says “That One Time At BJ’s” and I wonder if it is the restaurant chain or a person.
Can’t be the show my youth about the guy and the monkey or maybe it could be, I might be wrong.
I am cutting through a parking lot near a Sprouts and staying away from the people but still I hear things about ripe bananas, organic meat and hairbrushes.
“I want a fun hairbrush, get me a fun one.”
I don’t know what that means and almost shout I am more fun and more useful than a hairbrush. It is a ridiculous comment but that is what you get when you insert yourself into some situations.
Compasses make me smile because they remind me of my youth and they remain a practical tool in the present be it for the literal or the literary.
For example if I wrote a story about a couple who were in search of time and opportunity I could go with a classic approach.
You know the one where she tells him she won’t forgive him for not finding her sooner and he responds with something about how his internal compass will always lead him back to her.
“I will always find you.”
“But what if time passes and things change?”
“Stop wearing a watch woman and you won’t complicate things.”
Yeah, I know to some of you that took the romance out, but to others, well maybe it put it back in. Maybe she was testing him and he passed the test.
Or maybe he failed by not acting sooner and he discovered that he had to move on.
Could be both and it could be neither but he is covered either way because he has a compass and can use it to go off in heartbreak in adventure or for a quest back to them.
Now add a few flashlights, universal screwdriver, hammer and some beef jerky and he is prepared for almost anything.
I loved driving that Ferrari but it is not a car I would pick for adventure. It is not made for comfortable cruising up the coast or across the country.
And if I had it I cannot confirm nor deny pushing it to limits best not tested on public roads.
Better to select a sedan or SUV and use that for travel. Better to drive something that I won’t worry about getting stolen, noticed or targeted.
Besides I can get access to the high performance car in other ways if I really want to. These days simplicity and comfort are far more interesting.
Given a choice I would happily spend time with someone who makes me happy or just read, listen to music and or watch a movie.
Not in a theater, but in a place where I didn’t have to worry about crowds, Covid and confusion.
Cue Telephone Line or maybe the soundtrack to the second Guardians Of The Galaxy. Have I ever mentioned how much fun it must have been to pick out the songs for the first and second films?
I know people who wouldn’t choose to watch either movie but might be enticed into it by the music.
Too bad the old man isn’t here to hear the story about the last two years and the last three months.
Took it one day at a time and maybe, just maybe I pulled off what he would have appreciated so very much.
Sauna Life
Went for my evening walk and then sat in my car in the garage because I needed to shvitz harder than I was.
I miss having access to a sauna but not as much as I miss steam off of the rocks. So many memories listening to the altercockers tell stories in Yiddish and English.
Men who would swap tales about the war, women, fatherhood and everything else.
All sorts of character would show up there, Irv Rubin and other guys from the JDL would be honored and cursed at.
I can hear them still, some of them telling me they would only speak in Jewish so I would learn more and Grandpa Wilner snorting, almost choking because he was laughing so hard.
Sometimes I’d feel Dad put his hand on my shoulder and it is only years later I realize it was because some of those tales weren’t really for my ears.
In the car, headphones on with sweat pouring down my face and back I shift between the present, future and occasionally walk through the past.
Hold me closer, tiny dancer
Count the headlights on the highway
Lay me down in sheets of linen
You had a busy day today
Hold me closer, tiny dancer
Count the headlights on the highway
Lay me down in sheets of linen
You had a busy day today
