dangerous compassions

I call you / from the comet's cradle

Wednesday, March 03, 2010

an altercation

I woke up wanting a cheese omelet for breakfast, so I made the next best thing--mushrooms on toast with tarragon and salt. So so so so good.

I'm concerned that people who read the cookzine will think all I eat is heavy and complicated things, but I figure everyone knows how to make salad, stir fry, asparagus, mushrooms on toast. But maybe I should have said something about that in the intro? I wanted the intro really short.

Yesterday afternoon my friend A was in town. She knocked on my door at ten to 2. We sat on the living room floor of my very messy apartment and talked. Then we went to her husband's workplace to get her kids. I hadn't seen them in a long time and was shocked to see that the older kid is as tall as A. Last time I saw her, she was a little kid. It was strange, but growing up in not strange. So it was not strange.

We went to the co-op and shopped for a long time. I got some sesame candy I like, cheesecloth which I hope is much better than dollar store cheesecloth, a bottle of water because I forgot water and was really thirsty, and maybe something else I can't recall.

Then we went to the huge pet store across the street from my apartment and shopped there for a long time too. I have never had a dog, myself, so there are lots of dog things I didn't know a person could buy.

Then she dropped me off, and it was raining. We didn't go up to my apartment, which made things easier for Erik. I was really worn out.

Oh, I forgot to say the weird thing that happened at the co-op. We were getting out of the truck, and it's the kind of truck with a backseat. So I had my door open, and the door to the backseat behind me was open, and the little child was trying to get out of her car seat and into her jacket. So we were trying to do these things, and all of a sudden someone starts yelling at us! "I'm getting wet!" he yells. "What the hell are you doing, lady!? Son of a bitch! I'm getting wet!" He was an older person in an electric wheelchair, and he wanted to get through the passageway I was blocking with the open doors of the truck.

It freaked me out a little, and at first I was wondering if the little one and I should get back into the truck so we could close the doors and this unhinged guy could get through. But we were almost done. But I was worried that the little one was getting freaked out by this scary guy yelling profanities. She seemed sort of oblivious, but I don't know if that's really true. The guy yelled like this for about 30 seconds and then yelled something like, "Fine, I'll go around!" That was a relief. I had been just about to start yelling back at him, "I've got a kid here, and we'll be just a minute."

So then A got to our side of the truck, to me and the little one, and she asked, "Did he go around?" and I looked and he was gone.

So then we were going to the co-op, heading for the front door, and the mean guy was right by the entrance, talking to a co-op employee. I was scared like he would start yelling at me again. But he looked up at us as we walked by and then looked down, silent. I thought he was embarrassed at acting like such a jackass, but when I told Erik this story, Erik said he thought the guy realized the holdup was about the little kid and realized what an asshat he was.

If only all asshats would realize their asshatness. Maybe next time he will be nice. Or maybe he just needs a med adjustment and can't afford it, which I would understand.

At any rate, tonight's writers group, and I should bring an activity.

1 Comments:

  • At March 03, 2010 6:21 PM, Blogger dphunkt said…

    I have always loved the word "asshat." Just thought I'd share that with you. Also, give a listen to NPR RadioLab's program about Lucy the chimp. It's really fascinating. You can find the podcast on iTunes...

     

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