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I needed a new one because I lost the precious blue one that Anna Martinez had given me during Hurricane Sandy.
I looked all over the apartment and could not find that blue, plastic rosary.
I gave up and ordered a new one from Amazon.
I was just walking home this afternoon. I had been walking around Paterson feeling sorry for myself. I hate being alone on holidays. I hate being stuck in the city. I wish I had money and family and friends and I wish I could do what normal people do on holidays: barbecues, a trip to the beach.
I was surrounded, as I always am in Paterson, by other people alone and stuck in the city, by other people with no money and no car and no barbecue. By people laughing and smiling and fighting and playing and being loud and making the best of everything.
Just outside my apartment, I saw an older African American woman sitting on the sidewalk. She was rubbing her hands together in a worried gesture. A small, white, plastic crucifix dangled from her wrist. It drew my eye. I focused and saw what looked very much like the clear beaded, blue plastic rosary I had lost.
My guess. I always keep it in my pocket when I walk. Chances are I reached for my hankie or my sunglasses and the rosary fell out. And this blessed woman found it and wrapped it three times round her wrist.
I hope it is the rosary I lost. I loved "finding" it on her wrist.
***
Here is the story of how Anna Martinez had given me that rosary, back during Hurricane Sandy and the long power outage:
Anna Martinez got her power back yesterday. The food in my freezer is largely still frozen. I have my ways! I keep blocks of ice in there. They are keeping the freezer food cold. I'm a survivalist at heart.
Walked over to Anna's, my backpack full of my freezer food to store with Anna. She lives only a couple of miles from me, but it's a very bad part of Paterson: boarded up factories as far as you can see, men camped in rubble.
We met and embraced. I immediately saw something on the shelf in Anna's tiny apartment. It was really beautiful. I wanted it. I wanted it right then and there. I could already feel this object in my pocket. I was shocked at myself. How could I feel so covetous about something that belongs to my friend? And, worse than covetous. I wanted to steal this object! Just slip it into my pocket! I was shocked at my reaction!
Anna and I sat and chatted. We laughed, we cried, we hugged, we even drew a couple of tarot cards. If nothing else, this power outage got me to kick back and spend time with a friend, which I haven't done in months.
When it was time to go, Anna said, "Wait, there is something I want to give you." And she reached – yes – for the very object I lusted after the minute I entered her apartment! It was a sky blue rosary. Sky blue is my favorite color.
There was a story behind it. Anna is a storyteller, as well as a visual artist.
Anna was at a bus stop. A fellow traveler was speaking judgmentally about a woman who had urinated in public. Anna listened to this woman but grew impatient. At first Anna was harsh in judging this judgmental woman, but they talked more. Anna came to understand her better. As their conversation drew to a close, the woman handed Anna one sky blue rosary. Then, after some moments, she handed Anna another, saying, "This is for someone else. You can give it to them."
Walked over to Anna's, my backpack full of my freezer food to store with Anna. She lives only a couple of miles from me, but it's a very bad part of Paterson: boarded up factories as far as you can see, men camped in rubble.
We met and embraced. I immediately saw something on the shelf in Anna's tiny apartment. It was really beautiful. I wanted it. I wanted it right then and there. I could already feel this object in my pocket. I was shocked at myself. How could I feel so covetous about something that belongs to my friend? And, worse than covetous. I wanted to steal this object! Just slip it into my pocket! I was shocked at my reaction!
Anna and I sat and chatted. We laughed, we cried, we hugged, we even drew a couple of tarot cards. If nothing else, this power outage got me to kick back and spend time with a friend, which I haven't done in months.
When it was time to go, Anna said, "Wait, there is something I want to give you." And she reached – yes – for the very object I lusted after the minute I entered her apartment! It was a sky blue rosary. Sky blue is my favorite color.
There was a story behind it. Anna is a storyteller, as well as a visual artist.
Anna was at a bus stop. A fellow traveler was speaking judgmentally about a woman who had urinated in public. Anna listened to this woman but grew impatient. At first Anna was harsh in judging this judgmental woman, but they talked more. Anna came to understand her better. As their conversation drew to a close, the woman handed Anna one sky blue rosary. Then, after some moments, she handed Anna another, saying, "This is for someone else. You can give it to them."
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