It was a place to be seen and not be seen. There were three kinds of people who lived in our tiny city by the ocean. There’s the Old Money, the New Money and the No Money. Rich fell under the latter. I met him under the most interesting circumstances. Ever the rebel who rejects the pretensions of the people in his community, he was quick to let people know his class affiliation. One foggy morning I saw an interesting image of a man walking down the street. He was wearing a plain white t-shirt and a pair of faded blue jeans with sneakers – something I’ve seen a million times. The only difference about his attire was in the way that he wore his pockets. Instead of having it inside, he had it pulled outside like a couple of dog-ears. From a mile a way you can instantly tell that he had no money and therefore belonged to the lowliest group of citizens in the city.
As he walked by, I heard him reciting something like a mantra and so I asked him if he belonged to the Hare Krishnas. "What gave me away, the pocket hanging off my hips?" I just shot a smile back. I said “No, but it sounded like you were reciting a chant”. “Oh, no”, he replied. "That was the line I was going to use when I ask the most beautiful woman in the world to marry me”.
"Did you want to hear it? Should I practice on you, then?" "Ok", he said here goes. “Ok baby, I know I’m only regular unleaded but you are super high octane racing fuel. If you mix those two together, there is no way of knowing how fast and how far we can go."
"Aaaahhhh don’t know man", I said. "I think that needs a little bit of work because it reminds me of shop towels and grease. It's a little rough on the edges."
"OK how about this one?", he shot back. “Baby you know I love you and the story goes that Tarzan ended up with Jane, but the way things are going right now, it looks like I might end up with the chimpanzee”. Baby, you know that ain’t right."
"Alright, that was good but too jungle-lee, I said. But why can't you just tell her how you feel without the embellishments? It’s because whenever I see her, I can’t seem to get a chance alone. She’s that busy a person. But I have to be ready so when the moment presents itself, I’ll be ready. I’m frustrated because along with my other life challenges she is the one person I think about the most."
"But I've got to go", he said. "Nice meeting you."
(TO BE CONTINUED)
