Blog

Showing posts with label strangers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label strangers. Show all posts

The Curious Case of the Mystery Man and the Airport Shuttle

Sunday, December 28, 2014 | 0 Comment(s)

My wife and I set our alarms for 2:30am, out the door by 3:00, to make a 7:10 flight out of Logan airport.  It was a two-hour drive from our house to the Revere, MA Park & Ride that we had previously booked online.  Considering I am now on vacation, you know this isn't going to be some sob story about how my sleep schedule got screwed up by a direct flight to paradise.

The Park & Ride was not a one of those fluorescent light covered monstrosities that serves as a beacon of advertisement for larger car rental companies like Alamo or Budget.  With the wattage those puppies were putting out, the street lighting seemed quaint, like holiday decorations along the fringe of the real source of light.  Our Park & Ride was on a smallish corner lot, just a block from a major rotary.  It was not well lit.  It had a small sign that said Revere Park & Ride in white lettering.  

There was a small service center built into the corner of the open paved lot, and the whole place was surrounded by wire fencing with barbed wire that ran along the top. There was no "parking garage." It was all one level of exposed pavement, no stacking.  Old school.  My wife parked the car in one of the lined spots away from the busy intersection, and we gathered our belonging and made our way to dimly lit hut. It was now 5:00am. 

As we were just lifting our suitcases onto the sidewalk pavement, a middle-aged Asian man swerved his over-sized new-model Cadillac onto the pavement in front of us.  His window was down. 

"Is this the parking for the airport?," he asked.  His accent was pronounced, but besides the funny word placement, his English was almost flawless. 

New York's Not My Home: Smiling at Strangers Edition

Monday, July 7, 2014 | 0 Comment(s)

This past weekend I briefly returned to the hustle and bustle of New York City.  With such a mass of humanity packed together, there is a genuine sense that the whole "melting pot" idea for this country originated on a New York stove.  As I negotiated Central Park and various Subway closures, I took a moment to appreciate the racial diversity around me, a past luxury i took for granted, only internalizing its value when it was gone.

All of this aside, there really is nothing like returning to "the city" and, as the first passerby approaches in the opposite direction, making sincere eye-contact and smiling.  Cause, like, that's how we do things up here in the Happy Valley.  Of course, the person I smiled at always has a completely different set of facial reactions.  The first two moves are almost imperceptible.  The faintest flicker of a reflex smile begins, and in the next micro-second, disgust pulls down on his previously-thinking-of-upturning lips.

Me in NYC
Then the eyes get into it.  Widening.  Who IS this guy? Why is he smiling at me?  Is this some sort of new gay signaling that I don't know about?  Should I be scared?  In the next moment, his tough guy persona is right back up. The true New York outfit: One size fits all.