Hero is the masculine form of Hera, the wife of Zeus in Greek mythology. I am bringing this up because Hera created the peacock with the eyes of Argus. I know a man named Hero. When I talk to him I wonder if this is what it is like when people talk to me. He is not hard to follow, but, he talks on a different wavelength so that I have to pay extra attention to figure out if I am missing something.
The peacock has landed.
Birds of a feather flock together.
Many of these essays are littered with more than elusive allusions and randomly appropriated, unattributed quotations. What I am up to is often more than whatever burbles up in my stream of consciousness over the course of a day. Sometimes, these sentences are placed in an elaborate code to an intended reader. Every day in New Orleans has more layers than an onion. That is why I have been hanging out at the Velvet Cactus.
I follow instructions.
Ask for Mitzi to be your waitress when you go the Velvet Cactus. Order the chimichanga with extra horseradish sauce. She will know who sent you.
Mitzi has a birthmark that reminds me of St. Rita of Cascia.
I was playing pinball at the Broad Theater this morning with Mitzi. Mrs. King is out of town this morning and Mitzi rang me up. “Wanna play some pinball, Mr. King?” the sibylline voice on the other end of the line said. I said I would love to.
Guess what! They just got a refurbished Q*bert machine at the Broad Theater. Mitzi beat the pants off me. I was never good at Q*bert. My game was always Tempest, back in the day. I am sure I have not lost my touch. Much of life is muscle memory.
If it was a refurbished Tempest machine at the Broad Theater, I would have rolled all over Mitzi instead of the other way around. Either way, one of us would have rolled over the other. Ours is an amicable friendship. Happiness loves company.
We sat at the bar for a proper sit-down lunch. All the matinees had started by then so the bar was empty except for a young man with ear lobe plugs the size of silver dollars. He was knitting baby booties. Children are the future.
He told us he sells them on Etsy.
Mitzi asked me about my past. I told her about where I grew up. We went down Memory Lane.
I will tell you about it in a moment.