Nora

I've seen quite a few movies on Lifetime lately with Homeless People You Have Meaningful Conversations With That Make You Reflect On Your Own Existence in them. I was kind of jealous, because I see homeless people all the time and have not once had a noteworthy interaction. Then today, I met Nora.

I was putting the finishing stitches on a bracelet in the little park near the 1st Avenue subway station when a woman came over and sat next to me, producing a plastic bag from her larger black leather one. She was 40-ish and smartly dressed, in a maroon and black horizontal striped fitted shirt, long black skirt and black beret. Her makeup was impeccable. She asked me if I liked scarves. I said I did and she pulled some gorgeous scarves out of her bag. Unfortunately, I didn't have a dime on me so I couldn't buy any, but I would have.

Nora began telling me about what an awful day she'd had as she sipped a beer out of a straw. She's a singer and had a bad audition. She's homeless and sleeps on the subway. She buys nice clothes at the salvation army and then sells them for more money to support herself. She doesn't panhandle, and she doesn't usually drink during the day.

Nora was a little paranoid -- she thought everyone that walked by was saying things about her under her breath. She had some delusions of grandeur and a fantastic sense of humor. I listened to her for the better part of two hours. She's writing a Broadway play, and quietly sang a little number called Syphilis for me. It was quite funny, and she really could sing. She would be right in the middle of a sentence and she'd stop suddenly and say things like that's a fantastic hair color for your skin tone or your bracelet is lovely -- have you though of working with suede? or you're such a nice girl. She wanted to know my name, what I did for a living, whether I've ever been married and whether or not I have a boyfriend.

After telling me a long story about how men lusted after her when she was a topless dancer -- how men are always lusting after her and it drives her crazy, she paused, looked me up and down and then said I bet you don't have that problem. You're the kind of girl that men fall in love with, not lust after. Frankly, I didn't know quite how to take that.

Another woman came and sat on the other side of Nora and she whipped out her little bag of scarves and started all over. She was done with me. I got up and said, have a good day Nora, and she grabbed my hand, hard and told me it was lovely meeting me and she hoped I had a wonderful life.

On the way back home, the crazy guy on the stoop proudly informed me that the birds were singing lullabies. Last week he proudly informed me he had lost his dinner fork under the table. I felt lucky that I had met Nora, and hoped she's sell all her scarves.

Mom: Why didn't you answer the phone when I called?
Me: I was hanging out with a homeless woman in the park.
Mom: There is something seriously wrong with you.