Thursday

Just a slice of life. I read for an hour over coffee while waiting for Sunshine to get off work today. I was at Saigon Center, a high-rise south of my apartment building. There are three viable coffee places in the building, at three corners of the ground floor. I was in Highland Coffee, northwest corner. Saigon has these like DC has Starbucks; I like these better. I was sitting on the patio--maybe not as nice as it sounds because this patio faces the Lê Lợi Street sidewalk, little barrier between me and n lanes of struggling traffic. Traffic is mostly scooters, of course, but they blow: horns in front, fumes behind. Scooters act like foot traffic, the horns are them talking to one another. A boy with a bucket wanted me to let him shine my boots. They hate the way I've let my shine go. I gave him the no gesture, but he persisted so I ignored him. I read. A boy with no thumbs asked for money and I didn't give him any because my smallest bill was a fifty (thousand), worth over two coffees but not at Saigon Center. I can't articulate this, so I read. Another man came by with a bucket and I read. A man pulled his wife along Lê Lợi on a sled. Sometime later, there was a very little boy dressed in yellow wearing shoes that squeaked like rubber bath ducks. He ran around and he squeaked frequently because of it. In rush hour the traffic is a lot closer than the curb, it's important to know where your children are. It works: this was the most difficult thing to ignore all day. While the kid was playing near me, I was unable to concentrate on my book. [Cavin]