All this past week, illness kept me laid up at home. But on my one foray outside to trudge a gauntlet of doctors' offices and x-ray facilities, the grace of the city found me on the B68 bus.
Meditation: On the Bus
The Graces were disguised as septugenarian women in the seat behind me. One was recounting to the other the exact details--down to the long low gold velour couches--of a Halloween visit she'd made exactly 61 years ago. Enthralled by their capacity for memory, I couldn't help but break the city's cardinal rule: I made eye contact with a stranger.
And all the way from King's Highway through Midwood and into Ditmas Park, we had a wonderful conversation. They'd both been "career girls," and we talked about the publishing business, about memory, about making one's own way in the world, and about those wonderful back-in-style low couches.
For eighty blocks I forgot to cough. Graces, or angels? And what else might the city have to offer me, say, on today's walk?
Comments (6)
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80 blocks on a bus? Be of good heart; your folding bike should be delivered by mid week. But are you sure you wouldn't like a small car? 80 blocks???
view Old Bamboo's profile
Haven't you ever heard of poetic license, dad? ;)
view Shannon's profile
sounds like you had the pneumonia that also laid me up for a week. hope your x-rays were clear!
view pinko's profile
Thank you for this lovely story. You have a skill with words.
view peggy's profile
The kindness of strangers is amazing -- from help, to conversation, to a shared smile -- it is what makes New York my favorite city.
view design_scouting's profile
then you passed through my 'hood, which is full of such strange stranger encounters. thanks for the share.
view kdkaboom's profile