Sunset in the Park…

I walked down to the convenience store after a Big Mac and fry supper tonight.   Charlie had just left after our medication ritual and our viewing of Bones.  It takes me about thirty minutes to walk there and it is a pleasant stroll when the traffic on the main road by my house is not hectic.  I bought my sunset brews and started to head up to the park before I was accosted by a very young looking black girl in the parking lot.

“You got a cigarette?” she asked.  She looked sixteen to my aged eyes.

“No,” I said as I turned and kept walking.

“I know you be havin’ cigarettes as you bought beer,” she said very astutely.  Her cadre of friends surrounding her giggled and laughed at my being caught red-handed.

“You’re too young to be smoking,” I replied with a smirk.

“I am 21!” she exclaimed.

I just laughed in disbelief and asked her why she didn’t just go in and buy some. 

“Fuck you then!” she said angrily and I just shook my head in more disbelief. How rude!  Her momma didn’t teach her manners. 

I didn’t let that little altercation get my goat, though.  I was intent on a relaxing sit on my favorite bench in the park as I drank my two 40oz Steel Reserves.  This was my treat for a job well done today.  I was hoping the beers would make me grow sleepy and I would go home and sleep for the night.

It was a beautiful evening tonight.  Too early for the katydids, though.  I missed their songs as I sat.  The sun set and the temperature soon dropped to more comfortable levels.  I listened to my radio at a few conservative talk shows just out of curiosity.  The bile they spew never ceases to amaze me.  They are worse than the liberal shows and the liberal shows are pretty bad as well.  I far find myself a moderate these days extolling the virtues of compromise and common sense.  Neither of these attributes are exhibited by conservatives nor liberals.  Each side is too busy drawing lines in the sand to get anything really fruitful done for the American public.

I took my last swig of smooth Steel Reserve and yawned.  I had managed to stay up all day without napping for hours as I normally do.  It had been a grand day and I took great satisfaction reflecting back upon it.  The anxiety I had also been experiencing tonight melted away after that second beer and I got up to walk home content with life for a change. It’s a wonderful feeling I haven’t gotten to experience often in my turbulent life.