A lady on the sidewalk

I decided to take my camera and go for a walk before Christmas dinner. All of that sitting around in the house for a couple of days was taking a tole on me. I got sick of Christmas shows on TV. I started to read a book about Hitler and Eva Braun surviving the war. I read the the local paper including the crime report,.. people breaking in and stealing things here and there around town, and they had a map of where the things were taken. CDs taken from car (13) And then you find 13 on the map and thats were the CDs were taken. Sometimes they had descriptions of people.

The rain had melted what snow had been on the ground, and it had been freezing making the sidewalks very slick, but I went for a walk in my old neighborhood anyway just to get out of the house.

While I was walking along and taking photos, I was counting all of the people I had spoken to since I left Washington. There was the girl at the gas station when I first left. The guy in the auto parts store where I bought new wiper blades. The guy at the grocery store. My mom. The usher at church. Two random people at church and some lady my mom introduced me to. Mr. and Mrs. C. My friend, his wife, and her brother. And the guy at the grocery store.

There was an old lady throwing de-icer down on the sidewalk. She wasn't really old, she just looked old in her long blue dress, overcoat and hat. "I don't like to put this down." she said. "The squirrels." "Oh!" I said. I stopped as she threw the white stuff down towards me. I noticed an old dinette on the porch so I turned on the camera and framed it. "Do I get a royalty?" She asked, as her tone changed to a little serious. I coughed a phoney laugh out,.. a Robert Duvall phoney laugh. "heh, heh, heh,.. Oh I never get any money for this." Had to think quick for something else to say as I composed my shot, as I did want to get it, and I was standing in her way. She waited while I took a shot. "That's a cool dinette." I said. "Looks nice up there." "They'll sell it." she said. "Really, how much?" "I think they'd take a hundred and fifty." "Hmm." And I went up and took a look.

I didn't really want the table but I was interested in the chairs. I noticed some large stains on the top of the table. I had to convince myself I didn't need it as I'm such a sucker for things like this. Plus I had no way to get it home. "Well I don't really need one." I said. "Merry Christmas." "Merry Christmas to you too." she said as I walked away. Then I started to think, what if someone took the dinette that night? She'd think I took it! She'd give my description to the police, and I'd be in the crime report! Dinette taken from porch by man with baseball cap, and camera (13). The next morning I drove by just to make sure it was still there.

Oh,.. and I spoke to a lady on the sidewalk, and another girl at a gas station on my way back home.

I should have offered her fifty...