One Moment Please
Moments are like molecules. Throw enough of them together and you end up creating something. The moments that made up my day today were particularly noticeable. Not bad. Not life changing. But they definitely had quite a bit of entertainment parts per million. I took the bus into Burlington from my little town in Vermont. My son had asked me to lunch and tea afterwards. His treat. Yesterday I got to spend some one-on-one time with his new wife, who I absolutely adore. No exaggeration. Today I’d get a little one-on-one with my son.
The first group of moments happened on the bus. The driver picked up a man in front of a motel. He was chatty. His conversation solely directly towards me. Not to any of the other three passengers or to the driver. He seemed harmless. He politely peppered his patter with ma’ams in a southern kind of way. He uttered “I’m sorry” each time he dropped his plastic gallon jug of water. He dropped it a lot. I had trouble hearing him from where he sat towards the back of the little bus. I didn’t want to tell him because I wasn’t particularly interested in him moving closer to me. I kept up a light banter, saying just enough to keep him on an even keel. Eventually he got off the bus but not before spending over half the ride with us. A man in the front row apologized to me for not stepping in and making the other man stop. I voiced that the man had seemed harmless to me. The passenger admitted that he did appear to be lonely. I mentioned that it had been only a small kindness to listen. The man replied, “If everyone listened, things would be a lot better in this world.” He then told the bus driver he wanted to get off at the hospital. He had already been sitting on the bus when I boarded. I didn’t realize that he was bent and had trouble walking. “God bless good vascular surgeons,” he said as he stepped off the bus.
My left foot was really sore yesterday. My new daughter-in-law read about Dragon Balm online. It’s like Tiger Balm but with CBD and THC added. It sounded perfect. She researched some more while she was here and discovered they don’t carry it in Vermont. They do sell a CBD/THC salve that mimics that part of the Dragon Balm. She did a little advance work before I got into town today. She texted me a photo of the salve and told me where to get it. Meanwhile, limping only a little, my ankle in one of those small compression sleeves, I met up with my son. We went to a food cart we like and had lobster rolls and very tart lemonade. Then we went to the teahouse and had two of our iced favorites. We asked his wife to join us for a special hot tea that had been gifted to the couple last week by the owner. We laughed and talked and then I headed back to catch my bus planning on buying the salve on my way to the bus stop .
When I told the people at the dispensary what I wanted they asked me if someone had been inquiring about it for me that morning. I said yes. Then when I went to buy it — pricey at $55 but so worth it — they told me they could only take a debit card or cash. I had forgotten that’s how it’s set up. I had neither with me. So, one person behind the counter had $50 in their wallet and the other had $5 and it was musical Venmo money to the rescue.
As I walked up the street towards my bus, a very handsome, dark-skinned, man walked by completely naked. That’s legal in that town. I laughed. Actually I can’t tell you whether his face was handsome or not but his ass definitely was. Moments. They really make your day.
Cinse Bonino
2023
