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Date: | Wed, 23 May 2001 01:02:26 EDT |
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Scene: Breezy point on the outer reaches of Brooklyn; barren windswept where
the Atlantic Ocean meets the outer harbor.
It's waves pound the surf where you can hear the drag of the under tow rake
and reveal mounds of jeweled stone in its aftermath.
To our rear is a disused air field Floyd Bennet field with its ghostly
hangers and weed encrusted landing strips.
I am talking to two men one is an archeologist the other is an officer from
National Parks. It's noon and a weak sun is trying to percolate a low cloud
cover.
Sound
Around the corner from one of the disused hangers comes the distant sound of
a car horn; not just any car horn; but one from the past;..Ahhh-oo-gaha
Heading right towards us in zig zag and honking its horn madly like and old
French taxi is a 1941 army dodge field wagon with an original red cross on
its side..
It careens to a halt just ajar from where we are standing. In side two old
leatherneck mechanics (senior citizens) dressed in dirty mechanics overalls
are delirious with success."we just got the ol girl running"
Giddy as school boys they relate this is their maiden voyage after having
worked 5 months restoring the engine and body to working condition.
One of them has no seat to sit on and is laughing hysterically from his perch
on the floor.. His white gray hair falls over his face; they are so alive.Its
Christmas and birthdays rolled into one.
Just then the clutch engages and they lurch forward careening crazily down
the old runway with the old horn tooting "Gangway .."Gangway" they make for
the beach
Just as the sun pokes through catching the crest of a wave before pounding
the surf they dip and disapear behind a dune.
.exiting as strangely as they appeared.
Come to PTN and experience life a little differently than before... .
Waiting for Godot
Scene Broadway and 44th underneath a sidewalk bridge.
I have seen him there every day now for two weeks. A man who is grubby and
ill kept sitting cross legged with his back to the stone wall looking up at
the sky.
Thousands of people pass his location everyday.
His stare is constant; its as though he is waiting; held spell bound by some
secret information.
This area of Broadway is probably one of the greatest cross roads in foot and
motor vehicle traffic in the western world..
Everyone who has ever visited the island of Manhattan most likely passes
this area.
It is said if you stood on the corner of Broadway and 42nd long enough you
will see everyone you have ever met.
This morning I didn't see him. The next day the same...not there
. had he found it by sitting satsung for so long ?// was he a yogi in
beggars cloths and had transended this earthly plane /??
On the third day I asked the cop O'Dyer whose beat is the tenderloin district
what became of him.
O'Dyer : well you know he was waiting.
Waiting for what Sgt. O'Dyer ?
O'Dyer: waiting for UFOs
And??
O'Dyer: Well they thought he would have better success down at Bellevue
(Hospital)
Sleepy time .(..down South)
My dogs are asleep on the porch and a circus of June bugs plays at the
overhead light by the door.
I am sitting on the porch glider with the baby asleep in my arms
watching sheet lighting in the distance
I am afraid to move least I wake her.
Meanwhile a small bull frog is keeping time with a tree frog singing bass
There is a boisterous chorus of crickets that act out the evenings opera
over by the fountain I put in last year.
As the moon rises through the pine and magnolia the chorus picks up tempo; a
horned owl swoops to a nearby sweet gum and hoots
Its the last act of Rigiletto where the beauty marries the beast to save the
life of her lover and the old gypsy laments
the fates... The Baby limply waves her arm.. dreaming.
.I am a million miles away from the fire fights of the stone trade in New
York and I don't miss it a bit.
Michael
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