the new courtship

while i was emptying the contents of the skim milk carafe into my iced coffee at the hospital condiment cart this morning, i was eavesdropping on two elderly gents chatting on a bench to my left. the larger, older of the two was wrapping up a soliloquy in his gravelly, corase voice, enlivened with a touch of central-MA and some good old eye-talian: "so i made her some music, you know, on all dese cd's. on my computer like, you know. and i puts her face on all the covers of dem cd's, as a picture like, and i gives it to her as a present. for no special reason, too. i just says, here you go, for you. and boy do i hope it gets me somewheres with her, cause otherwise why bother with all dem mp3's, y'know?"

all this juxtaposed with his cataracts and an old tattered flannel jacket. it's touching, really; an old man from an era past, embracing a new technology, a different media format; an unsolicited gift, and the woman he loves.

i sure do hope it gets him laid.