Whenever I have a meeting with a friend or someone I want to learn more from, I go to the my favorite coffee shop. But sometimes, just sometimes, I like to simply nurse my paper cup of coffee (with milk) and sip and listen . . . sip and listen.
The listen and attraction part usually depends upon the basic look of whomever is drinking the coffee. You never know where ideas and suggestions might come from. The lady was blond with a kind of round face and a cute little smile. What really caught my eye, however was the flip curl of her blond hair. It kind of looked like almost a come-hither appearance, but non-sexy. She had friends who joined her, more than she joined friends. She seemed to be the early riser . . . first person singular.
As I sipped my coffee and thought over what might be fun to do . . . or not to do, I looked around and considered whether to mind my own business, or listen and learn. What focused and pulled me in on this particular day was a comment about cheap hot dogs. “You can get over half a dozen hot dogs for a buck-twenty five at Dollar Tree.” I grew up on hot dogs at baseball games my dad took me to. Big buns and thick chewy “red hots” slathered with so much mustard you had to wipe away the tears to see the action on the ball field. I couldn’t imagine dining on a Dollar Tree hot dog for a mere fifteen cents and enjoying it. I waited to see what else was on the menu.
It turned out the woman wasn’t eating the hot dogs she was feeding crows with them. Now, I felt bad for the crows. I was out of coffee, and didn’t want to look like I was listening so I got a refill. When I returned to my seat the women were laughing and enjoying themselves. I was afraid I had missed some details, but no, I did miss some crow jokes but I didn’t care.
Flip Curl Lady was filling in her friends about the crow crap. She had complained on Facebook about crows pooping on her deck. “A Face Book friend replied and said “All you gotta do is feed the crows. They are pooping on your deck to get attention. Kinda like a dog or a man.” The women whooped it up at the man joke. I managed to keep my eyes looking down at my coffee like it was really important.
Flip Curl continued, “I put out a piece of left-over sausage, set it down and walked away. When I turned around the sausage was gone. Over the entire day there was no pooping on the deck. I put two and two together. I bought groceries at Winco and after I left I wandered next door to Dollar Tree and just happened to see hot dogs in the cooler. At lunch I ate the sausage and the crows got some hot dogs and I saw no crap.” The table erupted in laughter and applause. I clapped as well. Flip Curl Lady smiled at me and I nodded.
After ten or so minutes, I retreated to the bathroom and then returned to find the main room almost empty. I went to my table and picked up my cup to finish off the coffee. Stuck to the bottom of the cup was a business card with a name (Melodie) and phone number of the back . . . and a lock of hair.
