my broad street friend, my biggest fan, the-man-who-would-be-played-by-ossie-davis, was outside of the check cashing place this morning when i walked to the office with my drop spindle.
i don't know all that much about mental illness, but if this man's condition is in any way graphable, suffice it to say he was on a different point in the graph today than on other days when i have seen him. whether he remembered any of our previous conversations, i am not sure. but he zeroed in on the spindle immediately and said:
"what i need to do is get some sheep, and some goats, and bring them to you, so you can have cashmere."
i agreed wholeheartedly, because i thought doing so would expedite the "see you later" part. it didn't. suddenly, it seemed, we were making actual plans.
"i will need about three sheep, and a ram," he said. "it'll be about six weeks from now before they're ready for you. the goats..." he trailed off. "well, i'll eat the goats."
i told him that if he was buying, i'd eat the goats too.
"i do this in homage to you, for your devotion to your craft," he said.
(ben never says stuff like that.)
this is the first time i've talked to that man in awhile. we saw him a few weeks ago, when we were in the car, and he was walking around the subway entrance brandishing a power drill.
Posted by amber at September 24, 2003 03:04 PM