Funny Girl. Chapter 634.
Mia works in the kitchen. Once a day, she comes up to where I sit to pour herself a big go-cup of iced orange juice. She is twenty years old. “I wish I worked up here at the bar, Mr. King,” Mia said.
I looked up from my Wall Street Journal. “Why?” I asked.
“Because I could talk to you all afternoon, Mr. King,” Mia said.
Be careful what you wish for.
Other things have happened in the meantime. So many things that it is an entirely different day, not that it matters. Time stands still in New Orleans.
I just talked to Mia again. Every day is a variation on a theme.
“You’re going to get plenty of peace and quiet today, Mr. King,” Mia said.
“You’ll probably be the only person here,” Python Lady said.
“You two are here,” I said.
It is raining. There is no exit. It is like a scene in a play of the same name. The characters are Mia, Python Lady, and your humble narrator.
They said this because it is raining. When I say it is raining, I mean it is pouring. The old man is snoring. Nobody is coming and nobody is going.
I drove the Vespa here. I wonder why people think I am crazy. Two wheels set one free.
I arrived with water in my shoes but the rest of me was reasonably dry. Having not owned a car since I was eighteen, I have ample rain gear, like the Gorton’s fisherman.
I took Esplanade Avenue to Carrollton Avenue to Bienville Street to the corner of Iberville and Telemachus Streets. It was a roundabout way that I would normally take. Then why did I go that way?
Those streets do not flood. Had I gone my usual route, the water would have been over my floorboards in some spots. Then, my shoes would have been really full of water.
This is what it is like to live here.
I am looking out the window at a car parked by the curb on North Telemachus Street. The puddle is up to the door.
Now you know why houses are raised in New Orleans.
Would you like to know who deep the water table is? Stick your finger in the ground. We live in a swamp, physically as well as morally.
Since nobody expects many customers today, it is King’s Choice on the television. A rare treat. We are not watching sports.
We are watching Turner Classic Movies.
I do not like Barbara Streisand as a general rule but I do like the movie Funny Girl. I like Fanny Brice and I like the story. I would like the story. It is about a woman who believed in herself. She knew what to do early in life.
Young people believe in themselves all the time. What do they know? It gives me no pleasure to see their dreams crushed because they think they are special, but it needs to be done for them to grow up.
Even though Fanny Brice was a success at what she chose to do, her success was bittersweet. Most things are.
Hopefully, by the end, one’s life is more sweet than bitter. There is a Heaven and there is a Hell. Think about it. I do not. I am Catholic. I live in New Orleans, which is the best of all possible worlds.
Now, I am going to tell you why it is appropriate that Funny Girl is playing on the television. It is because Funny Girl is coming to town.
I may get wet going to meet her but I will be very happy.
You should become a paid subscriber. If I were you I would. Instead, I am stuck writing this stuff. An old man savoring his bittersweet life before he moves on to his great reward.