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Haibun 2
Wall Street
Managing a store on Wall Street in New
York City was an interesting experience.
Business there was done on an exact schedule: 8—9 AM, 12—2 PM, and 5—6
PM.
At these times, we were very busy. In between, everyone just
disappeared. Since most of the business was done at the noon hour, the
registers were cleared after the noon hour rush.
One afternoon at 2.30, I was on the main floor. In walked a man who held
me up at gunpoint: "give me all the money in the three registers."
Much to his chagrin, the registers were EMPTY! Timing is everything. He
was one-half hour too late.
We would see the same secretaries every day. The store detective called
me up to my office. There was one of my customers trying to steal over
$500 worth of merchandise.
"Just charge it to my account."
"I am sorry, but I have to take your card away and you are going to
jail."
She looked up at me with her beautiful big blue eyes: "is that anyway to
treat a good customer?"
I loved working in that store. Every day was a joy.
bright morning
the cocoon turns
into a butterfly
The Rainbow
The city in front of my balcony is a
large semicircle. During the day, I see the buildings and roads and a
beautiful lake. At night, there is a forest of twinkling lights.
But I have never been caught as breathless as this early morning.
I went out on my balcony to the most wonderful surprise. There in the
sky, a rainbow covering the entire semicircle. It was the largest
rainbow I have ever seen.
Deep in colors. And I counted them saying red, orange, yellow, green.
blue, violet. And at the end, there truly was gold.
Therein lies the myth we have said since childhood, "A pot of gold at
the end of the rainbow."
kindergarten class—
standing in a row
her new crayons
An Ordinary Day
Sometimes an ordinary day can become an
extraordinary day. . .
I do not see my daughter as often as I wish. She is a busy lawyer in Los
Angeles and I am retired and living in Florida.
On one visit there, we decided to go shopping. Such great fun! She
helped me in the dressing room and on her turn, I helped her.
We were walking through the crowded mall when Jayne turned to me, "Mom,
I have a surprise for you."
In the tea shop, the shelves were stocked with tins of tea, unusual tea
pots and such. But when we walked through to the back, we were
transported into another era. An old fashioned English Tea Room. The
walls were mauve and pink. The waitresses wore long black dresses, small
white aprons, a cap with frills and even white gloves.
While sipping tea with finger sandwiches, we sat and reminisced.
Time stood still.
A day to cherish.
my future
in the bottom of a cup
green tea leaves
The Hat
The Renée Shop was one of three millinery
stores my husband and I owned when we were first married. It was the
time when hats had little veils that had to pined into the exact place
over the face, and women wore hats every place.
I had a favorite hat that I loved. On this day, I wore it to the store
and put it on a table in the back room.
A good customer came into the store. She tried on at least a dozen hats.
None pleased her. But I knew what she was looking for. I went into the
back room and brought out my favorite hat. She was delighted. Just what
she wanted. What could I do?
So, alas, I sold her MY hat.
Easter Sunday
a parade of flower hats
down 5th Avenue
What's in A Name?
April Fool! Could that be me? My life has
been April 1.
I needed my birth certificate to get a passport. So I sent away to
Westfield, Mass where I was born. Imagine my surprise to find I am not
Betty April 1 but Lieba March 31
Lieba, a variant Yiddish form of the German Liebe, meaning Loved One.
How pretty! How nice!. But I am still Betty.
family nite—
shuffling cards
the joker is wild
The Cherry Tree
Bing cherries on sale, $2.99 a pound. I am
standing in the super market looking at a mound of plastic bags filled
with cherries.
My mind flashes back to "the cherry tree." It stood in the yard of a
house on the corner.
Every year when the cherries were ripe, the neighborhood children would
gather for the picking. Climbing the tree, lips red from the juices,
hands all sticky. Our pay, all we could eat!
I can almost smell the aroma coming from the open kitchen door as the
ladies made cherry jam and pies. The jars all in a neat row ready to be
put in the basement.
The pies for the next charity sale.
morning breakfast
bagels and cream cheese
and . . .
To Touch The Shore
It is unusual weather for Florida, cold
with high winds. I am comfortably curled up on the couch. A TV alert
breaks into the program. Three Cuban rafters in old inner tubes tied
together have been spotted in the rough sea. Wave after wave brings them
closer to shore.
With the "foot policy", they must touch the shore to stay in the US. A
Coast Guard helicopter hovers overhead just watching, just watching.
They will help if there is danger but the rafters must make it on their
own. Wave after wave slowly brings them closer. A crowd has gathered on
the beach. They can only stand and watch.
climbing over the wall
the bougainvillea drops
a blanket of petals
Change is good?
My local super market has just been
renovated. They have now changed all the isles.
Before, when you went to shop it was quick and easy knowing where
everything was.
Now, everyone is walking around with a bewildered look. Of course this
is just marketing.
I find myself buying things I never did before.
hi neighbor
did you find it?
where are the peas?
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