hail mary, mother of carl

gihyb and i moved from bedford into a sweet duplex apt on ainslie st circa '96. It was such an old established blue-collar, italian family block, that i felt that our moving-in-process, had to be somewhat civilized. But by the course, it was done with a motley cast of friends in the band van and I was a "littlebitnervousaboutwhattheneighborswouldthink". Look left, look right. Lawn chairs every direction, studying us. Shit. Like a gazelle at the watering hole at sunset, one of the sitting ones saunters toward.

M:"how the fuck many of you you are moving in there?"

me: "um only 2 of us, hi i'm..."

M: "You got a lot of shit for 2 people, how much is ray charging you for that fucking place?" I answer.

M: "Holy fuck!!!! Hey, (insert old-lady-name) Can you believe these kids are paying XXX for R's shithole!!! WTF!!!!"

Large crowd, laughing, and judging and laughing, coughing, laughing. Move in, and as darkness approached, audience lessened, lessened vanished. (nightfalls...coincidentally spent night in one of the best bars ever in ny at the end of our block that happened to be the closing night of said bar-light a candle here)

Next am. breakfast run.

M: "Still fucking can't believe you are paying X for that place. Are you rich or crazy?" (mind you the apt was uber cheap, even by williamsburg standards in '96. )

me: "ok, where can i get an egg sandwich?"

M: "who the fuck knows. you never heard of cooking, oh yeah, you're rich." puff, puff. "Oh, and here's another one", (approach her 40 yr old son) "he'll never be good for nuthin".

c: "thanks mom, have a great fuckin day", sparks up a cigarette.

M: "yeah, maybe, you can get up before fucking 3 today and fucking do-o-o sumthing?"

For the next few years EVERY single morning.......
Me: "Hey, Mary, good morning"
M: "well, I don't really know what's so fucking GOOD about it, but if you say so"

And for the next few years EVERY single night......
C: "hey, you going to the store?"
gihyb or me: "Yeah"
C: "wanna get me a beer or a smoke?"
Gihyb or me:
"Um, maybe."
"um, no."

I still see him everywhere.
I haven't seen Mary in almost a year.

But once the weather warms, I will walk a little extra up that block so I can hear "your kid is so fuckin cute, how the fuck did YOU get such a fuckin cute one?"---or----"can you buy me a smoke, or a beer?"