i took friday as a vacation day from work. it just didn’t seem worth it to go in for one day. plus, i find i frequently feel i need a vacation after my vacation.
i treated myself to oatmeal at the deboce park cafe. yum yum, and s’s housemate was working that morning at the cafe. she chatted with me across the counter as i took pictures of my fruit.
i love to sit at this cafe and watch the neighborhood pass by the windows. there are groups of 20something girls gossiping, people walking their dogs, families with young children. on friday i saw a shirtless man walking past the window. he caught my eye because while it was a sunny day, it wasn’t particularly warm.
he walked as if he were sure of where he was going. he had curly dark hair still a bit messy, hanging free just above his shoulders. i wondered if the choice of gray cargo pants and no shirt were some sort of challenge to the rest of the city. see me? i’m strong. i don’t need a hat and scarf and sweater! the sun will warm my skin as god intended.
he reached the corner and walked around to the driver’s side of the car parked there. i saw him lift the windshield wiper and place something under it in one fluid motion. then he turned and walked just as briskly home.
huh?
s’s housemate set a sandwich down next to me and came around the counter for her break. i described the man, and she had noticed him too. she said she saw that he was not wearing shoes, either. he walked in his socks and pants alone.
then i told her about the car and him leaving something on it. we decided to check it out. she thought the car belonged to someone working at the cafe that morning.
when she finished her meal we went to investigate. from the door we could see a traffic ticket of some sort under the wiper. i went around a picked it up, feeling somewhat nosy. what if this was really a ticket for this car? what if the man hadn’t really been messing with the car at all?
i flipped open the ticket and looked at the license number. it started with four and i’m sure as i passed the car i’d seen that plate started with five. sure enough, when i checked again, they were different numbers. then i looked more closely. it was a $50 ticket for another car for blocking street cleaning at 8:27am the day before on the cross street!
he just wanted someone else to pay it for him, the jerk.
so, we tossed it. and, in a few weeks he’ll get another copy in the mail.
it makes me wonder how often he’s done that, though. he sure didn’t seem to pause for thought the whole time i was watching him. also, i’m double checking all my tickets from now on. not that i never read them before, but now i’ll be doubly sure to go over them.