THE DONUT QUEEN..trampdown log

      We stumbled in early one morning.  In my pocket was a Dunkin Donuts gift card.  A friend gave it to me and said that there was at least 5 dollars on it.  Well, I was wrong....damn!...Marathon Man and I stood there looking at the young girl with the pretty smile and sort of asked her if she could 'spare" us a cup of coffee. {awkward silence}....for a few seconds we all just looked at each other and she said "I'll have to ask my manager"....another damn!...Marathon Man and I looked at each other as she went into the back room to ask her manager, and I could see the look on Marathon Mans face, he was thinking the same as me, kindred spirits, experienced hobo's, or just two homeless men in need of coffee.....{now lets see that good old American compassion in action}....She returns with her manager, an obese women, I use the word obese only because I am trying to be kind.  Some people you can just look at and know they are miserable and we hit the jackpot here!  I was right....

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!"

    She proclaimed in a voice that was louder than it really needed to be.  Thank God there were no customers, only the employees, and the look of disgust on their faces, was not directed at us, but at her...it was obvious she was the worst type of manager anyone could work for.  The girl stood behind her and mouthed "I'm sorry"..which made Marathon Man and myself smile, and this infuriated the "donut Queen'.....but she had a audience now, and her wrath will be shown to all....

    Marathon Man glanced at me and said in his "hippie, 60's dialect"...."WOW, MAN"!.....We both started laughing and this just put her over the top....How dare these two homeless "things" laugh at her....The Donut Queen!!!....So, in a even louder voice she made it clear "that we better not be asking any of her customers for money"...[panhandling, just like the politicians do come election time,but for some reason we think that is okay...hmmmm]   Okay, you have to picture this, it's 5:00 am, and not one single person is even moving around out there, and there is no one in here!...I look around the store, and Marathon man looks around and we say together, 'what customers?".....we laughed, the employees laughed, and well the "Donut Queen"  ....did not... go  figure that!....I knew Marathon man was going to say something and what he said was classic, first his standard 'wow,man', and then  "I think you have some jelly from a donut on your shirt."...  She looked down but I was already heading out the door and the last thing I heard was Marathon Man laughing, the 'Donut Queen", ranting and her staff laughing...............The simplicity of a kind act, of just doing something good was lost on the "Donut Queen"....

The tree....[trampdown log]

SOFT AND COOL

THE WIND CARRIES THEM ALL

YELLOW TO BROWN

THE LEAFS WILL FALL

BUT THE TREE STANDS TALL

THROUGH THE SEASONS THAT CALL

AND WHEN YOU STAND ALONE

IT IS THE HARDEST SEASON OF ALL

s.b.e.

No Words spoken [TRAMPDOWN LOG]

    I long to walk in a morning forest.  My hand in yours, quiet, peaceful and content.  My eyes meet yours, we smile, we kiss, no words are spoken......[love]

Subway's Soap opera....Trampdown;Date Log 2012

     There are mornings that I drink my first cup of coffee in a Subway's sandwich shop.  A homeless morning, waiting for a hobo moment.  It's cheap and the coffee Urn is outside in the lobby.  [homeless moment, something like a Ah-Ha moment]. This is like hitting the jackpot!  Pay for one, and have about three.  I know it's wrong, but that is why it is called a "Hobo" moment.  I offer no excuses.

     Ya know, as we move through this life we acquire "luggage".  Ideas, opinions, memories.  Good and bad.  It's all the ground work for our scripts.  The soap operas we call life.  Our own individual life's.  Now just walking into this Subway I have became a part of their Subway Soap opera... Isn't it great to be able to enter and exit a scene whenever we want?..Whenever I come in contact with others I enter a "soap opera".  We are all actors.  But, I mean it in a good way, it is essential to have all the diversity. I do what I do, and you, brother and sister, do what you have to. I think As long as we are kind to each other, that seems to work for me..But then again I thought smoking crack was a good idea!!....hey mike, how'd that turn out?..lol  ...
     This early in the morning, not too many people are in Subway's so I have the lobby[the urn], all to myself....YES!!....The girl who works there is really nice.  She gave Marathon man and myself a free sandwich and a coffee one time. One of the many "convenient store angels." Yes there are angels. And if you pay attention and remember your day, when you post up for the night.  You can look back at the day and remember the nice gestures that some have shown you.    Spend some time out here and you will cross paths with some.  Every story is riddled with them.  How some one at one time or another was handed or given a gesture of compassion..  It's powerful when this happens.  It can mean the difference between a good or bad day, just being in another's thoughts is a wonderful feeling...I guess they call that love, or some part of it.
     Oh yeah, this subway, it has it's own little soap opera going on,  Every time I have come here, when I use the bathroom to do a quick "bathroom B.wash", I find blunt wraps in the toilet, and the cigar tobacco in the toilet.  Got me to thinking, hmm, some one here I believe likes to get a ;little 'fucked-up!"....It's a good thing when a "sandwich technician" is a little stoned  when making that monstrous breakfast sandwich, they tend to be a little more "groovy" to the idea of extra cheese and whatever I ask...plus it's 05:15 in the Morning, and I have been the first customer in a least 3 hours.  I'm in heaven..."Morning Mr coffee urn, I'll be right with ya!." ....Check his eyes, yup, he is stoned out of his head.  Jackpot!  Second one this morning.  The manger comes out of the back room, she is a nice pretty little lady.  Very Polite, and also stoned!!!....
     Man, I have to see if the delivery driver is also smoking..lol...She starts doing something on the nights register, and seems to be having a little trouble with the mechanics of how it works, could be all those numbers and the pretty colors....wow.....lol...no no , she is cool..The "Sandwich technician" is a young black man and he asks me a question, and I answered 'white", ..I'm looking at him as I say this and his face just stopped all muscle movement...I thought, that's odd...And he asked me again.."WHAT'S, your favorite baseball team????" ...I thought he asked "what type of bread do you want?!"..."oh shit". ...He was pointing at my hat, it was a NEW YORK METS cap, and he obviously wanted to talk baseball, but I kind of threw it off track for a second, kind of funny when I think about it...Well, he asked again, "what kind of bread?"{smiling}...So, I had to answer, "METS"....We laughed, A happy, stoned,laughing, sandwich Tech., Triple jackpot!!!
     The breakfast sandwich he made was so big I ate some of it later that afternoon, and then the rest for my Pre-evening Vienna sausage fest!...mmmmmm.....VIENNA sausage, now that is a blog all it's own....Sitting in my favorite booth, I dive into the sandwich and come up for air about 2 minutes later...Damn, that is one good sandwich.  I can't prove it, but I'm pretty sure that the Maker of this sandwich is also the maker of the blunt that I find laying around in the bathroom.  Not criticizing, just trying to figure out the actors in the Subway Soap...To them, I am just the Homeless guy who comes in every morning, and drinks coffee.  So I have my role down pretty good.  I know not to engage them in conversation or anything.  Just come in[enter stage,right] order, and then sit[exit stage]....
     Now I enjoy that first cup and begin to write....This is how I Begin most of my days..I have to look at all around me and try and put it into some kind of meaning.  If I don't, then what am I doing here?..You do not have to be homeless to have these types of perspectives. You shouldn't.  Everyday is a way for all of us to make a effort to belong. Or at least help another to have the good feeling of belonging....It is a fine place to be....in the arms of another persons thoughts......And right now, that "breakfast snadwich', has found it's purpose of belonging....in my stomach!!!......so ends Subway Soap Opera....