TheBanyanTree: Out With the Old

[maria gibson]

I have way too many purses.  Iyain't really the seasonal purse type, got
several I like and change up as mood and needed size warrant.  The one thing
they all have in common, however, is a plethora of history nesting, resting
and waiting for me to rediscover therein.  Been a time or two it actually
was some riches.  A fiver, some quarters; once it was three twenty dollar
bills and I've still yet to determine when in my life I wouldn't have
noticed three twenties gone up and missing.  Be that as it may, there they
were, tucked away in the back of a wallet in an old purse one day when I was
rooting around looking for something else.  It's the first thing I check for
now but I've never lucked out like that again.  Still, once, it was quite
the fun find.

Got out a purse this morning; cutie little black and white thing with
flowers and lady bugs on it.  Probably the only thing not making it so girly
I'm gagged out is that it is starkly black and white, even the little
designs.  Really neat in that it has sewn in magnets inside and under the
handles that quietly go together.  No snap, no annoying button and loop
dealy, no zipper that'll never be zipped.  Nope.  Quiet, unobtrusive magnet
that just.  Closes.  No fanfare.  I like that.  Need it and will take it
anywhere I happen to run across it.

Receipts, lists from when my eldest and his wife were planning to move in
last July.  A business card from the Radio Shack cell phone salesman, that
certainly was a blast from the past.  Most interesting, least notable in
just about anyone's life, an old gum wrapper.  Shiny silver on one side,
waxyish but not quite waxy on the other side.  Folded several times length
wise and then folded into an uneven W or M, kinda depends on how you hold
it.  Instantly, I was taken back to that piece of gum.  Not many pieces of
gum are memorable almost a year later.  Particularly when the gum isn't even
around anymore.  I imagine it's dust somewhere or perhaps a nasty, hard glob
of gum mixed with grime on the bottom of someone's shoe, stickiness gone and
now just a minuscule lump that is barely noticed and being worn down in
minute measures.  But that gum really is important in my life, it really is.

The air was warm and moist but not uncomfortable.  I had on khaki capris and
a pink shirt, flirty pink dangle earrings and brown hookerish sandals that
made me feel taller even if they didn't make me much taller in a realistic
way.  He had on his uniform shirt and a crazy shit eatin' grin.
Funny...funniest guy I'd run across in a long time.  Sexy.  Found me sexy,
blew me away.  It was the first time that had happened and shock and
disbelief were battling for brain space but it was a background battle at
best.  I was mesmerized by the experience.  And then he offered me gum.
Which I took, unwrapped and popped in my mouth, just super happy to have
something to do with my hands and what little brain space I had left for
nervousness.  I folded that wrapper up to within an inch of its life,
concentrating but not really concentrating on the wrapper, formed an uneven
W or M shape with it, it depended on which way you held it.  Looked up from
my folding work and was kissed.

The rest is history.

Maria