A Dialogue

she talked about the weather how it rained when she hiked down to a waterfall and she took refuge under an overhanging rock which reminded him of how drenched, " like a wet cat," he said when telling her of standing on the deck of a boat surrounded by swells and high waves that washed right over the deck which took her back to the waves that smote the European bound Greek vessel and sent her to her cabin unable to eat anything for two days and then only toast although she did go outside when it calmed down and enjoy rusk biscuit rounds

he said, "i only like crackers that complement cheese and rusk reminds me of something you'd give a teething baby or someone who needs to gum their food."

"you're ageist she said." but he warmed to the idea of cheese and crackers and shared with her his favorite cheese-- gourmandise with kirsch with a Raincoast Crisp cracker, " you're also a snob," she said before telling him of her favorite snack of chips and hummus, "ordinary" he said

she told him that she always wanted to be extraordinary and do something that was special, but she couldn't pinpoint her particular skill, she described herself as plebeian, a conformist who wished to be someone who wasn't afraid of taking up unpopular causes, a banner carrier instead of someone who walked behind the leaders which prompted him to tell her about the time in high school he led a revolt against the cafeteria food

of course that led her wondering if there would be a revolt by the people if the person they didn't want to win won the election which led him to pontificate on the democratic system being strong enough to contain people and she countered with the ugly mood in the country

he recounted other times in the history of the country when divisive forces held sway yet the country didn't break apart despite bending seriously to one pole and she said that the pulse of the people frightened her

and he said the only thing that really frightened him was being in a cave crawling on his stomach and believing himself to be lost and she countered with a story of hitchhiking and a man taking her and her friend Mona away from where he said he was going, stopping, opening the door and saying " i have a daughter and i wouldn't want her hitchhiking. now either get out and start walking or get back in and I'll take you where you want to go." and she continued we got back in and he drove us to a bus stop

people, he said, are scary and he looked at his watch--she noted that it was late and she needed to get going so she said goodbye and left to walk home and feed her two cats while he opened up his daily diary and wrote about his day

jogged four miles in the a.m., my new running shoes chaffed my heel a bit, went to the library and picked up three books, read a mystery for an hour--i think i know who killed the train conductor, ate a non-fat plain Greek yogurt followed by a Cortland sliced  apple, saw a new exhibit of drawings at the Curbside Gallery, perhaps  I'll enter their next show, met daphne at the juice bar, had pomegranate juice, she drank kale juice... good conversation