The Interview

It was the third week of June. Special Ed stopped by the house about 9.30 in the morning. He had wanted to walk around downtown by the waterfront to look at girls, since the day before had been such a fine day to do just that.
But the day in front of us was much cooler than it had been the day before. It was overcast, too, and it looked like a chance of rain. I suggested we just walk around my neighborhood instead, to keep it close to home in case it started raining. Ed agreed with me on this, and we set off.
*****
We only went the distance of a couple of houses when a young woman approached me.
She wanted to know more about the Brooklyn neighborhood. She was doing a report for a web site that featured stories about the different neighborhoods of Portland. The Website is Portlanders.com.
I told her she was in the wrong place.The Brooklyn district was about sixteen blocks away. She was actually in my neighborhood, which is Kennilworth. Then I immediately invited her to join us for coffee, where we might have have a chance to chat. That way I could answer some of her questions. She had questions about everything.
She agreed to join us.
*****
Her name was Brittany. Brittany was from Seattle, and was not all that familiar with Portland. She got this gig writing for Portlanders. com to become a better writer. She told me that she was going to have to learn a lot of stuff if she was going to keep this job writing about the different neighborhoods of Portland.
We all went to a local coffee shop, the Funky Door, and I treated everyone to coffee. Brittany got out her notebook, and her tape machine, and interviewed me and Special Ed.
*****
Over coffee, she interviewed me. She managed to fill up four pages of notes, and her tape machine ran out of tape.I managed to answer her questions, and I supplied her with a few of my own stories to add a bit of color. Special Ed told her about his experience of growing up in the Council Crest neighborhood, and what that was like.
*****
Brittany could not stop grinning. I think I had her charmed pretty good. She was a delight, and I could tell by her questions, she was on her way to becoming a writer, which is what she wanted to do. In my own small way, I wanted to help her to do what she wanted to do.
****
After our coffee, I offered up a short tour of my neighborhood, which is Kennilworth. I commented on all the various architectural styles, and I pointed out unusual trees and plants. I made everything seem as new, fresh, and interesting as possible. Our encounter spanned the course of three hours.
*****
I showed her a Monkey Puzzle tree. These trees look like Monkey tails. There are only a few of these around, and some of them get to be quite tall. Brittany was fascinated by these trees.I also showed her a planting of Paper Bark Maples just up the street from where I live. Thanks to my friend Carl, I found out about these about a year ago. These are unusual too. They are like birch bark, only they are mahogany colored maple trees. They are cool to look at.
****
We walked over to Kennilworth Park, which anchors this neighborhood of mine. It's an old park, and it is a friendly place. I go up there to play some tennis. A lot of the people in the neighborhood go up there to walk their dogs, maybe chat with their neighbors. They have a place for kids to play. It is a good place to come to.
*****
I told Brittany about this friend of mine who is depressed all the time. He is a good looking man in his forties. He works out all the time and is in good shape. He even has a girlfriend.
He always says to me this: "You are dying from Cancer. How come you are not depressed?"
I always tell him the same thing. I tell him to change his mind, which will then change his mood. I have been telling him this for two years now. This amounts to a summation of cognitive behavioral therapy, where in you examine your internal thought process for the lies we constantly tell ourselves ("I am such a failure. Nobody likes me. Life is not interesting.") And so on. You begin to identify these statements as lies, and then you focus on things that are actually true ("I am not that much of a loser. I have a girlfriend. I am in pretty good shape.") And so on.
*****
I always get up at 6am to get ready to do battle in the markets. The first thing I think about is getting something good to eat, which amounts to oatmeal with brown sugar. I chop up a banana and put this on the oatmeal. Then I get some good coffee in me. By 6.30 when the market opens, I am feeling pretty good, and I have a plan for what I want to do that day. A lot of times I am all done by 7.30, and can go back to bed for a little nap. This retirement thing is working out pretty good for me. The last thing that I am thinking about is dying from Cancer, although I acknowledge that fact. But mostly life is a lot of fun now, and there is too much to do to really dwell on it. Life is actually pretty interesting. I am always lining up the next thing to do. I have a lot of people to play with. We always try to discover new things.
*****
When we parted company, Brittany thanked me for all the conversation. I told her to stay interested in life, to ask questions, and to find out about all the little details, like plants and trees and architecture. After all, if life is not interesting, then what's the point?
*****
This was probably pretty good advice for someone just launching an interest in writing. This was also probably pretty good advice for just about anybody else, too.
*****
I will most likely never see her again, this perfect stranger. Yet I think the three of us had a most enjoyable outing. We had some fairly harmless fun, too, which I think is the best kind.

Mr. Charming