[I finished Lilith Walks 2 just before the election, but the encounters just keep coming.]
The man on the curb had moved to the sidewalk this morning, where he leaned against the wall. Coffee, cigarette pack, cell phone were in place. His hand trembled as he lit another cigarette. He wore his usual Seattle Seahawks shirt and Hawai`i board shorts. I told him my daughter works at Lumin Stadium. See, connections, he said. His mother was born in Tacoma, which is where my daughter went to college. As Lilith and I started to pull away, I stopped. "Remember you said that your twins were born on November 4," I said. "Yes." "I didn't tell you then that November 4 was the day my father died." More connections. Sometimes sad ones. He loves numbers. Looked at my shirt, which reads Nike 1972 (I have no idea where this shirt came from)." 1972. That was an important year for me," he said, tapping his knuckles against his head. "Oh yeah, I got married, he said, and then the twins came along in 1973." Sticking with numbers, I told him we watched _Beatles '64_ last night. He'd been in 8th grade, he said, and looked at my hiking boots. "You get Beatles boots den, you were cool," he said, lifting the yellow coffee cup to his mouth.
