Amigo
“Seeing I had nothing of value for him to steal
he sat and chatted with me…”
While sitting on a bench one evening, waiting for the bus to Old San Juan, I met a young Puerto Rican dude.
He was evidently a mugger.
He sat down next to me, smiled, and saying, “permiso,” (excuse me), he checked my open collar (to see if I was wearing a gold chain) and my wrist (to see if I had an expensive wristwatch.) Seeing I had nothing of value for him to steal, he sat and chatted with me until my bus came
“What brings you to Puerto Rico, señor?” the smiling stranger asked.
“I’ve just arrived to begin a new job here, …at the VA hospital.” I replied.
“Are you medico?”
“No, I’m going to manage the media production service. We make films and videos for teaching nurses and doctors.”
“Sounds interesting. What do you think of our island?”
“I like it very much, particularly the friendliness of the people. In the States, people like you and I would never be having such a warm conversation.”
“Ha, ha. Es verdad. Well, here is your bus.
Buenas noches and good luck on your new job, mi amigo.”
Charles Francis is a retired photographer, living in California, where he studies creative writing at the Osher Life-long Learning Institute at San Francisco State University. He writes memoir and poetry and makes digital inkjet prints. His blog: Plato’s Cave shows his fascination with the effect created by the juxtaposition of images with words.
Kindly contributed to Zen Moments by the author.
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