Sunday, October 20, 2024

Lilith and the man on the curb


Lilith walked onto the grass between sidewalk and street to sniff the man's glass of milky coffee. Beside the glass was an unlit cigarette, a carton, and what I remember as a bracelet. He held a phone in his hand. "What's her name?" the man asked. "Lily," I said. "Oh, a flower." He asked my name and I said the origin of my name was also lily. When I asked him for his, he responded "Donald Trump." "I saw that," he remarked on seeing my reaction. "It's all entertainment," another woman had said to him. 
 
He'd clearly heard Trump's latest, and wasn't happy about it. Used to work for Hopaco, now Office Max, in Anaheim and Tacoma. Wore a Seattle Seahawks shirt. He asked my nationality, and where I grew up. Irish/German, and east coast. (He's Scottish and Filipino.) When I told him I've lived here for 34 years, he said, "I like numbers!" He pulled the cigarette up to his mouth, but didn't light it. Was happy to have me take a photograph of him. Small man on a curb, holding up a shaka, hoping for the best on Nov. 5. His twins were born on the 4th. Numbers again.

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