Last night I took a walk downtown to find a coffee shop in which to hang out and do coffee shop things. I crossed the river on my way. A nice view. Then I passed a table set up on a street corner on which earrings were displayed. 2 young guys were there "manning" the table, one leaning against the wall, the other in a chair, both with their noses in a book. Not great salesmen.
I found a place called Liquid Planet that served coffee, tea and wine and also sold bags and bottles of said beverages. Cool place.
When I decided to head home, I walked out with my nearly empty iced tea cup and headed back. As I approached the earrings table, a short pakistani man with a ponytail accosted me and asked me to tell him which earrings were my favorite. I laughed and took my time looking at them. He did his salesmen pitch (the two younger guys were talking to each other behind the table, passing a large paper soda cup back and forth). He held up a pair of earrings that were the same color as my eyes and said "For you, $35." I laughed and said I couldn't do that and we bargained. He gave me 2 pairs for a reduced price and then offered me vodka. "What?" He handed me the paper cup. "Vodka. Have some vodka. It's good." Well, I've been taking risks lately, so I did take a sip of that vodka and it was mixed with Sprite and tasted pretty good. Before I knew it, he had poured half the contents into my empty cup, removed an old man named Swami G from one of the folding chairs, and sat me down on the corner to join them in their conversation. The young guys were funny. One was an Urban cowboy whose hat was that of a dandy (complete with feather) and not the broad rimmed hat of a cowboy. And the other was a straight-laced dude hailing from TX (without an accent) who actually had a job. He was the one who suggested to my short pakistani friend that he might consider widening his market share by making jewelry for the gay male community. That began a conversation of Missoula's "opinion" of it's gay male population. Pakistani man - not so much for them. TX dude - live and let live (his best friend is a married mormon daddy who has been gay for years!)
There were questions about my age, my marrital status and whether or not I have children. The question, "Do you think you'll ever want to settle down?" was posed by the pakistani man (Geoffery) who was married to a MT woman for 12 years before divorcing. When I got up to leave, he handed me a longstemmed red rose.
As I walked across the bridge, I encountered 3 young gypsies. The boy was shirtless and the girls wore flowing skirts and had flowers in their long, messy hair. "What a beautiful rose! Are you going to the Cabaret?" I asked where that was and they described to me the dancing and the beautiful drag queens. "They are so beautiful they make you question your femininity!" Then the boy repeated, "That REALLY IS a beauiful rose." "Thank you. Geoffery gave it to me. He's selling earrings down the street." "Yes, Geoffery's a great guy." Lightening lit the sky and they told me to have a beautiful night and were on there way.
I got home just before the rain with 2 pairs of cheap earrings (for which I paid too much), a wilting red rose, a full cup of vodka and Sprite, and a great story.
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