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is this funny? yes. i think.
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July 10, 2002
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« nature most foul | Main | cooking as life »
As I wait for my Jamba Juice to be prepared in the mornings, I step outside the store and watch the people passing by, heading to their business meetings, art classes, and minimum-wage service jobs. Yesterday was no different than any other day, except that when I looked to my left up towards Market St., there was a blind woman headed my way, her cane swishing from side to side with the precision of a fencer. She looked to be in her late thirties. I'd seen her before, on her way to work in the morning, sweeping the sidewalk in front of her with her thin white eye.
I turned to my right and saw a tallish man in an overcoat heading from Mission up toward Market. In his right hand he held -- was I seeing this right? -- a white cane, which he moved from side to side in the same pattern as the blind woman. He held a briefcase in one hand and had nice shoes.
I looked back to my left at the woman again. They were both slightly offset from the middle of the sidewalk. Surely they wouldn't...I mean, what are the odds that...
I was paralyzed as they approached each other. Their sticks swept the sidewalk before them in unfortunate synchronization, and WHAM! they ran right into each other. They stumbled around for a moment, but neither one fell or ran into anything else. A look of confusion and anger -- or maybe fear -- crossed both of their faces, but neither one said anything; they just composed themselves and continued on.
It was all I could do not to crack up.
I think maybe I am a bad person.
July 10, 2002 in old_site | Permalink
