Afternoon Vignettes

Soho. Rainy. All day. My sister wanted to buy a new chair and I was along for…whatever. We were walking and talking and began to pass a bistro. Two people. Man. Woman. Sitting outside under a very small overhang that needed to grow a few years before it could be called a proper awning.

They were eating late lunch, or early dinner. Pasta, I believe. The man was checking out his companion with a look that proclaimed YES, I know it’s fucking raining but I have PLANNED this all week AND we ARE going to enjoy this if it’s the last thing we DO, dammit!

She pulled her dampened fringe from her eyes and swallowed.

Ah, love!
* * * * * * * * * *
At one store, my sister sat in a chair that was sage-y in color and attitude and she told me that it was quite comfortable. “Is it?” I asked her in a distracted way because that’s how I am many times.

A young man was seated next to us and he was talking on the cell phone.

YOUNG MAN: Yeah! It’s really comfortable!

I realized that he was speaking to me. “Is it?” I asked, distractedly.

YOUNG MAN: What do you think?
ALICE: Well, I don’t know, I haven’t sat on it, yet.
YOUNG MAN: Not talking to you. Talking to the person on the phone.
ALICE: Oh.
YOUNG MAN: Shouldn’t you try it?

I say nothing.

YOUNG MAN *looking at me*: I am talking to you!
ALICE: Oh. Sure. I’ll try it, someday.
YOUNG MAN: Are you sure?
ALICE: Not really.
YOUNG MAN: Not talking to you. Talking to my girlfriend.

My sister and I go upstairs.

SISTER: Do you absolutely HAVE to talk to anyone who talks to you? Especially whackos?
ALICE: “Is it?”

* * * * * * * * * *

Our last stop of the day is to a paint store where my sister buys a gallon of paint called Poppy. She plans on painting one wall in her living room. The wall behind the sofa.

ALICE: That’s a great wall to pick to paint! Especially with a Poppy color!
SISTER: Glad you like it.
ALICE: I mean, think of it! The couch is there and anyone can find it easy to nap there. After all, in the Wizard of Oz, Dorothy, Tin Man, Scarecrow, Cowardly Lion and Toto, fell asleep in a field of poppies and…
SISTER: Shut up. Please.
ALICE O.k.