3/13/09
she was one of the people i met in the park that night when we brought our squishy tuna sandwiches and the coolers of iced tea to feed the homeless. i remembered her today and couldn't believe that she hadn't crossed my mind since that night. to make up for it, i thought about her a lot today.
she didn't speak directly to me, or to anybody except alan, the guy i was talking to. she seemed to be friends with alan because she talked to him nearly nonstop. even when i was having a conversation with alan she'd just sit on the side and talk to him or say things for me to hear through him. she couldn't finish her soup so she gave it to him and he took it without comment, in that intimate way some people have with each other. the woman was pale and soft-looking, very thick around the waist and walking with a limp on white sneakers. she wore a t-shirt and a long skirt and her hair was thin and fair. she was very short. she had a lisp and a lazy eye and she cursed a lot, and rolled her eyes at nothing, and acted generally pissed off but not at anybody in particular.
by and by, a guy came over and she introduced him to alan as her baby daddy. she said, "alan, i'm gonna go with my baby daddy tonight so you go on without me." and alan nodded and finished her soup and kept talking to me while i stared at the baby daddy.
the baby daddy was this amazing-looking black guy, medium height, youngish, one of the most gorgeous people i've ever seen close up. his eyes were long and a little slanted over high cheekbones and a sullen mouth. he said not a word to anybody. he was listening to a discman. his baby mama was surveying her wealth of plastic bags, which were stuffed to bursting with extra sandwiches and clothes and such. suddenly, to nobody in particular, she said, "F#$%! how am i gonna carry all this $^&T?!" and she sighed heavily and rolled her eyes and murmered to herself, "@#$^! &*R$% @&$%&" and then got up to her feet and hooked all the bags on her elbows and shoulders and limped off with the baby daddy.
and that was it.
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