Snacking all morning, I went for a walk at lunchtime. While at a corner, waiting for the light to change, a guy sidles up to me, telling me to buy him something to eat. I gave him a look that said You must be joking. He saw the look and then said he was joking, following that up with a request for French fries.

I told him he was dressed better than me and he said he was going to an interview. I crossed the street and wished him well. I continued walking, and at half a city block away, I turned and saw he was following me. Perhaps not exactly, but walking in the same direction. It was unnerving enough that I crossed the street and walked, crossing back when I did not see him anymore.

It’s been that kind of day. Mike says he gets very nervous about his Dads, Me & Bill getting home safely. Mike would know the code of the streets better than we do, I reckon, and though I feel we would be OK, one can’t really tell.

Just last week, an elderly gent was walking down the subway stairs at 18th & 7th Avenue when he was kicked down the stairs by a deranged individual who had just been released from Bellevue earlier that day. The gentleman walking down the stairs was killed when pushed. Things tend to get worse during the hot summer months, and we are not in summer yet.

Dearest Rita refuses to take the subway anymore, and she’s been living in Manhattan for 50 years. She’s had enough. Not enough to move, where would she move to? She would rather not, so I think she will stay on her city block since everything she might need is within walking distance.

In totally unrelated news, I saw two trans people, within a minute of each other. Not sure if they were trans, they just might be young men who like to wear dresses and makeup. I just kept walking and kept to myself. It sure is a different world than it was when I was growing up.

And why shouldn’t it be different? How people dress and identify is not my concern, and I wish them well. This should have been done years ago, but things were too uptight. I have been indoctrinated and struggle with shaking that nonsense off as often as possible.

I’m sure I’d written about it earlier, perhaps not, but in Hoboken about 10 years ago, I saw an effeminate young man crossing the street opposite me. I saw him, and I got upset. Then I caught myself getting upset and realized my indoctrination needed to go.

I was ashamed by my initial reaction but the second reaction was to mind my own business, knowing this young man has a hard enough time, probably, and would not need me to add to that hard time.

I discussed it with a co-worker a week or so later and as I was telling my story, I started to cry. I remembered being slapped if my wrist was just a little bit limp.

Looking up a name in the fruit stand directory, I notice a few young men named Dalton. WTF?

The big fruit stand. It has been a busy morning, working alongside Violeta. She’s new and it’s our first time working together. And we’re getting along just fine, thank you very much. It’s quiet at the moment. Janis is off doing Janis things, Kimberly on a different floor holding it down, Yancy has actually been at his desk which is a rare occurrence.

It’s quite brazen of me to be writing this at the desk out in the open but there’s not much at the moment, just sitting and waiting for the requests to come in. Generally afternoons are a bit of a lull, people don’t submit their wants and needs until after 4:30 PM, just when we have our eye on the door and the other eye on the clock.

Today was a free lunch day as well much to my surprise. In an attempt to save some money, I made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, true comfort food and relatively healthy. I say that since my sister makes peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the beach and my sister eats healthier than me, so my trust in her is implicit.

I had two servings of Mexican food, make your own taco. Only my taco making skills are subpar so I ate a bowl of taco ingredients but not necessarily a taco.

Violeta is pleasant and I’ve been taking charge of the music and trying to please her ear and since I do not know what exactly what she likes, I have been playing R&B stuff and some soul. No complaints that I have heard. I played Me’Shell Ndegeocello and now I am playing Dusty in Memphis by Dusty Springfield. I got my copy of Dusty in Memphis from the one & only Arif Mardin. A true honor indeed.

After I had my ersatz Mexican taco I went out for a smoke, leaving Violeta with my phone number to call should she get overwhelmed. As I was outside the fruit stand, I saw some promotional thing going on sponsored by Nike.

They were giving out Philadelphia Cheese Steaks across the street from where the New York Knicks play. I suppose it was a subtle dig at the Knicks. Within minutes a line of about 50 peoplequeued up to get a free cheese steak. Having eaten my own free lunch I stepped aside with my little cigar so as not to disturb those discerning palates.

And now all is quiet. I spoke with Bill who will be motoring the next couple of days, then I spoke to Mike who told me about a dream he had where Bill and I won the lottery, enough that we were able to set Mike up with a cozy apartment by Exchange Place in Jersey City, which is where he wanted to live.

Bill and I bought a place on 11th Street in Hoboken while maintaining our current place for storage. I guess we won a lot of money in the dream. I hope it was a correct prediction, though having written that…