more after I left the porn stars
As I walked towards the grocery store, mah' man called after me, "Hey, I've had that can opener since Vietnem."
"You know you're gonna see it again."
Chuck puppydogged after me to the grocery store where I went straight for the beans with a touch of maple. Then chocolate milk...they have no whole milk chocolate milk. Who wants low fat chocolate milk for crying out loud?
"Is there something I can put these in, to heat them up?"
The cashier looked vaguely in the direction of the deli.
"Do you have like a styrofoam bowl, or a cup or something I can use?"
The cashier looked annoyed, "There's some cups over there."
"That was really nice of you, to feed that guy," said Chuck as we walked over to the microwave, marvelling at my two dollars worth of generousity. "I really admire that."
It took me so long to get the can open with that army-issue can opener that the security guard came over and asked if everything was OK. A small can of Bush's Baked Beans fits exactly into a tall Seattle's Best Coffee cup. Minutes later I was back out in the night air with a steaming cup.
"You shine," he said, between mouthfuls. "Some people just really bright, an that's you. You don't meet people like that every day."
We had sat down again and Chuck had an arm around me, cradling my ribs. Something was kinda bugging me, and I gently said to Chuck, "That's enough, Chuck, you gotta back off, man." He pulled away and looked a little wounded.
Then it kinda dawned on me. That Chuck and mah' man hadn't ever seen each other before...Chuck had just come over and sat down for no reason. He had shiny new clothes, he was probably not homeless. "What's your story?" I said to him, "What are you doing out here at 4am? I thought you two knew each other."
"I'm just walking around. I just sat down here because I was attracted to you."
For some reason that suddenly made me aware how late (early) it was. I stood and told the two of them that I had to go, and I walked the last few blocks to my car, and drove to my apartment...which I was very grateful to have.