Six New York people encounters..

In a large city with nuff people, when I cant read on the train so I mind people business and I watch the young white guy reading assata shakur's book and peeping into the phone of the black guy next to him.. phone held far because black guy like me and have eye problems. And I wonder if anybody watched me watch the boy watch the man phone. I did things like say morning and good evening to people I pass.. some look at me like I mad while others replied. 

1. Red sutra
Minding my business, walking in the mall and I feel someone hold my left hand and shake it while a little Peace gold card thing is being put in my right hand. A short Tibetan looking man is saying peace peace peace and then a red sutra, thread is on the right hand. I tell him it is okay he can keep the gold card and then he shows me donation sheet for shrine .. build build; he says.. and I see that there is a list of names and 20. I give 1 . I now imagine how my pocket could be picked  Thirty minutes or so later I pass him again.. and he starts to come up and then looks at my hand and remembers.


2. Elote
Lady selling Elote looking for a sale and we start talking. I say I from Guyana "cerca de Venezuela" and I ask her where she comes from and she says Venezuela. I find out later that Elote is Mexican and I think of her and the way she handle the cheese and the chilli and maybe she said Venezuela to make a connection and get a sale in case I did not know where Mexico is like who she does not know where Guyana is and the elote is bought delicious. Or maybe some Venezuelans know to do

3. Handsome tourist..
Korean lady working the cash register sees me and my friend arguing who to pay for the punnet of strawberries and the three peaches and she laugh and so no problem, she take money from both of us. She ask us if we are tourist and I ask her if she can decide which one is the tourist. She laugh and she say something about handsome tourists and we laugh and leave. We eat strawberries later and my friend say shoots, some of them bruised we should get back our money and I say no, is arite. and they were not bruised anyways.

4. Directions -> 

First day I land and I walking towards the wrong train, man in shirt jac asked me do you speak Spanish and I say 'si un poco'. He ask about train to 'New yersey' and I say oh oh because I vaguely remember that arriba arriba they have PATH which I spell in spanish Pay-Ah-Tah-Ach and put upwards and say salida and he say si si.. and his daughter says Thank you. I don't know if they reach, I hope they ask somebody in Uniform who know Spanish

German man asks me if he on the right train for the 103 street station and I say yes, because I work out that the stupid red line is for 1,2,3 and you have to read the numbers. I see the German man again two days later.. and he say hello so obviously directions were correct. I forgot the map and so I had to ask directions all the time because East and West don't mek sense when sun always seemed to be above .




5. 80 cents water

Young Lebanese man standing behind the till at the lil shop and black woman in front of me negotiating bills and coins as she tries to come up with five dollars. Man is patient telling her to take her time as she gives and takes back. My turn comes and I try to sort out the coins for the 1 dollar water.  I give him the coins and he looks at me and the coins and says.. it is 80 cents..and shows me , and says but that's okay.. no problem. I find a quarter and we swap the five cents for the quarter.

6. Expensive smile..

I turn up and realise that I am a day late for the booked flight so join the line of restless and tired people who all going on near midnight flights. The two persons face are tense, no smiling as people are quarrelling about time etc.  I go up and I praying that I do not have to buy another ticket and that I can get on the flight. The lady quote me the price difference her eyes cold and her face tense. I say, wow, well at least yesterday this time I was walking with a loved one instead of checking in for the flight and there will be no wedding ring anyways and the lady bus out laughing and her eyes light up without moving from the computer screen because she didn't want the customers in the line behind me to start complaining how she meking joke instead of hustling up and doing she wuk.