Sunday, March 17, 2013

Across the river

Across the river -
booksigning AT BOOKS OF WONDER IN NEW YORK CITY 12: 00-2: 00 Saturday, November 26 CE


This morning I stopped by the city in homes and asked if I could meet someone who has no family around and never does visitors.

They introduced me to Lester. He told me about Kingston through the river, where he spent all his life. He remembered the milkman delivering bottles of glass, soda shops, the piano factory, and brick. The way he described it, he seemed to think that Kingston still has it.

"Have you ever been to Maine?" I asked. "No," he said. "Someone gave me the hat."

Before I could finish the portrait, a nurse took him to his medication. He had sensors on two of his shoes to keep wandering in search of Kingston. "He used to have a sensor on one shoe," told me a nurse. "But he'd kick the shoe and escape with a bare foot."