Broadway and E8 - Hantavirus Man

I was at a bookstore gathering my typical stack of outdoor magazines, Adventure, Backpacker and the like. I sat down just as an older man in his 70's was slowly getting up from the table next to me. He happened to glance over and notice my stack of wilderness magazines.

"Do you camp?" the man said abruptly.
I acknowledged that I did.
"Got a pen?"

I reached into my bag, pulled out my pen and handed it to him. He picked up an insert a previous occupant left on my table. (Apparently, I can get 79% off of Cosmopolitan magazine if I reply by 11/01/07). "Look this up when you get home," the man directs. He slowly and methodically writes and dictates 'wilderness camping: camper in CA or WA catches.' He pauses a moment as if to add to the suspense. Then, without saying a word, he writes the word "hantavirus" in big letters.

Having done a good amount of wilderness activities in the West, I told him I was familiar with the hantavirus. The Man, in the same serious and stern tone he had maintained throughout our conversation, decided to fill in all of the blanks in my knowledge of hantavirus.

"It was discovered in the US in 1993." He further lectured how all of the coastal states with port cities have outbreaks of hantavirus from infected rats stowed away from overseas. "California, Washington, New York, Massachusetts...but Texas and the Gulf states are really bad." I was fascinated not only by the information he was teaching me but that this Man just happened to know so much about the virus.

He ended the conversation as abruptly as he started it. We both said goodbye and wished the other would not contract the illness. He slowly walked away. I look at the card he left with his hantavirus information scribbled across an image of Jessica Biel.

E86 and York - Maid for Success

"I'm leaving in a few years and going back to the Phillipines," the maid responded when I suggested she convince my clients to hire additional help to maintain what will soon be a 4000 square foot apartment.

"I don't like living in the city." she continued. She moved to NYC a few decades ago as a single mom with five children. As a maid and nanny, she managed to send all five of her children to college who are now successful in their own rite. The money left over was spent investing toward her longtime dream of returning to and living comfortably in the Phillipines.

She bought a house, then another. "I have 5 houses now that I rent out in Manila," she said proudly. "I also own a grocery store which my brothers are running," she added. "But I don't like living in the city so when I go back, I'm going to live on my coconut farm and help with the harvest." That was how she grew up and, judging by her excitement, was obviously the happiest time of her life.

Funny how many of us work so hard with the goal of reliving our childhood. In any case, I may be harvesting coconuts in a few years.