streetly goings on

wanted to update you with a little story that is new york through and through.

so, i step outside to trot along to the healthfood store (which is sooo la), but as soon as i step alligator shoe out my front door, there is a man passed out if front of our building's garbaj cans. he's all slumped over and has one shoe and sock off to reveal a nasty infected toe. eeeew! a young woman was on her cell phone already talking to the ambulance. i waited to see what i could do since the young lady seemed to be the caretaker of a much older woman who kept nagging, "come on! let's go!" as our street sustains much foot traffic, about 6-8 other people passed by in the span of 4 minutes, but none stopped, nor said anything, save for one guy who hurried by, but not too fast that we couldn't hear him say, "great! fucking great!" and shake his head in harsh dissaproval.

the young woman was still talking to 911 and they told her to lay the guy down on his back. "fuck that," i thought. and at that moment a nice old man walking a dog said, "no, if you wake him up, he might get mad at you." this did make sense; who knows what terrors he was dreaming of and liable to mistake us for.

so, we just decided to hang around and wait for the ambulance. a cop car turned the corner and we flagged them down. as they rolled up on us, they immediately saw homeboy crashed out on the sidewalk and said, "oh, yeah, we know 'm." relieved, but kinda worried, i stepped aside and walked to a sunny spot to watch the drama. then the firemen, i mean, the firetruck came, and i sat a bit closer. then the ambulance came, and the instance seemed to unravel quite smoothly. but the big cop was smoking a cigarrette, which i found very telling...

as i sat from my vantage point with tony, the old man who told us not to move him, and tony's dog, we saw homeboy get up and exchange some mild words with the law/fire/emergency crews. in an instant, he was on his way down the street, wheeling is cart behind him. tony and i chatted about the neighborhood and watched the aforementioned crews disperse and drive away. two minutes later, homeboy comes Running back with his cart, but had his hoodie pulled down over his face. as he swooshes passed tony and i, tony yells at him, "whatsamattah? you foget sometin'?!" homeboy kinda smirks and mutters, "stoopid cops!" and continues running back to the garbage.

i guess he did forget something, right before he fell asleep on the sidewalk.




ah, well.