A couple characters on a Friday night....

I went out to a neighborhood "Wendy's" last night to have a burger. When I 'eat in' I always try to sit so that I can watch the people coming in and out. That is, unless I've decided to read instead. Then I'll sit anywhere. I wasn't planning to be there long, so I hadn't bought any reading material with me. So, people watching it was.

Not a lot to look at until this 'old guy' came in. (What's an 'old guy'? Some would surely pin me as an 'old guy'!) He was short with a bald spot in front and white hair that was trailing down over the back of his collar, dressed in a black shirt and black pants. His belt was doing a valiant job of trying to keep his pants hitched up but was losing the battle to his stomach. Probably in his early 60's, I'd say.

My immediate guess was that he was a truck driver. Maybe it was the 'wallet chain' leading into his back pocket. Anyway. He sat down near me, and started in on his meal. I wasn't really paying that much attention to him except to notice his jaw working like a machine gumming his food into submission. He had what looked like envelopes in his shirt pocket, and he took these out to look at them while he ate. Turned out they were big scratch-off lottery tickets. I don't know enough about lottery tickets to tell how much they cost him, but based on the size of them, I doubt they were the variety that you get for a dollar.

These tickets were his evening's entertainment. As he consumed his meal he began methodically scratching away at them with the edge of a nickel. Based on the number of spaces he seemed to be uncovering, and the size of the card, I'm thinking that maybe they were some kind of Soduku game. Whatever they were, he was quite absorbed in it, and in no hurry to have it over with. I didn't see that he was getting anywhere, or winning anything, but it became apparent the winning would be a bonus. He was perfectly content to slowly reveal either the loss of his money or his big winnings. Now that's simple entertainment....

I got distracted from continuing to watch him when this other guy came into the restaurant. He was probably in his late 20's, thin, wearing a baseball cap and a t-shirt and shorts. None of which looked to have been laundered recently. He was clutching to his chest a black lap-top case. The look in his eyes was strange.. as if he was afraid someone was going to rob him or something. He sort of slunk around like he was hunting for a hole to hide in , or as if he'd lost something. Finally, he sat down at a table next to the wall and near the back of the restaurant, and opened up his case, extracting his laptop.. and a power cord. He'd been looking for a wall outlet.

Interesting... he got his laptop all arranged and plugged in, and produced a bottle of water from somewhere, placing it on the table. (Hmmm... Wendy's must have Wifi at this location!! ) He looked around nervously, and then proceeded to log on. Like an idiot, I thought he might at least buy a drink or something from their establishment, since he was making use of their wireless service, and electricity. That didn't look like it was going to happen..and didn't. At least not while I was there. [ I've also seen this phenomenon take place at a local McD's... a guy sneaking in and hiding in a corner somewhere with his laptop. Hoping no one noticed his entrance.... pitiful. ] I watched his for a while, but I was almost done with my supper, so I didn't stay around much after that. Only long enough to see him pull out a headset complete with microphone and put it on his head and plug it into his computer!! Amazing!! Heey.. while I'm here sponging I might as well make a few calls too!!!

That was enough for me. Time to go. I'll give the guy the benefit of the doubt and hope that he did finally decide that maybe he'd patronize the place in some small manner. As it was, he looked pretty settled in for the long haul.. don't know that I'd leave my 'puter on the table and go up to the counter now.... Dude, the least you could have done was scrounge a cup out of the trash or something. At least at Borders the laptop people buy some coffee...

the push and pull of memory

"Memory Wall" - stories by Anthony Doerr

Just finished this fine work by Anthony Doerr. An exemplary stylist with a finely-tuned sensibility about what moves the human heart. He places these stories all over the globe, from the Three Gorges Dam, South Africa, Lithuania, to Idaho and Ohio. The underlying theme is memory, with shattering loss being the taint that shades many of the narratives.

His tales have a way of sucking you in so that the world outside your head recedes to a distracting murmur. I'm struck by his vivid portrayals of the locations of the stories. He makes sure that location is more than just a geographic anchor for the story. Instead it becomes an integral factor in the tale being told, while his treatment of 'time' becomes a factor with great fluidity. Thus, he skillfully but subtly bring to our consciousness the realization that memory is composed of many discrete factors that hold different meanings and odd psychic 'weights' at variance with their 'exterior' meanings in our culture.

I was sorry to have to come to the end of this book. Each strange morsel was savory, and full of long forgotten flavors. This was the first I'd heard of Mr. Doerr, but you can be sure I'll going back to check out his other fiction. If, like me, you've never run across his writing before, I can heartily recommend this as profitable introduction to a talented writer.