A Walk in the Rain

I left work tonight and the rain was falling-lightly, tho earlier I heard it had been a torrential downpour. I did not have an umbrella, so I was thankful that the rain had let up considerably. I plugged in my headphones and started on the usual trek across 42nd Street and down Fifth Avenue. My destination-the PATH station at Macy's then home to New Jersey.

Looking up, I noticed the Empire State Building was colored green, white and orange. I thought it might have something to do with the Irish, but it turns out it was lit for the India Day Parade. I didn't even know there was an India Day Parade.

As I crossed 36th Street, thinking about how close I was to the train station and home, I passed a little old lady. She had a backpack and at least two other bags on her shoulders. In each hand she had a large bag, and was also carrying a cane. I turned around and caught up with her on the corner just as she was stepping up onto the curb.

"Excuse me, ma'am?" She turned and looked at me and I said, "Can I help you with something?"

"What do you mean, help me?" she asked. I was ready for anything and fully expected her to swing that cane around and crack me in the knees.

"Well, you have several bags there, they look heavy, and it is raining. Can I carry something for you?"

"Did someone send you to me?"

"No ma'am. How far are you going?" I really didn't want to walk too far. I was hoping for the next subway stop or somewhere fairly close. She said she was going to Fifth Ave and 38th Street to catch the bus to Brooklyn. I took the two bags from her hands and said, "Let's Go!"

She walked beside me and I asked why she was out in weather like this tonight. She said she had to take care of some business. "Business is business, no matter the weather." She asked where I live and I told her New Jersey. She said she was surprised that someone like me would stop and offer to help her.

We crossed Fifth Ave and walked north. The caution light was flashing and I was slowing down to wait for the light to cycle. I'll be hornswaggled if that 5'2" 102-year-old lady didn't speed up! We crossed the street and she told me she was brave. At 38th Street, there was no caution light. It was straight-up red, and she didn't stop. As we approached the middle of the street, a cab came thru the intersection. She put her hand up and stopped the cab, then looked at me and said, "I used to be an auxilliary cop. I know how to stop traffic."

She asked my name and how old I was. When I told her I was 38, she said she could not have a grandson my age, but she could have a son. She said if she had a grandson my age, that would make her too old. I said I guessed she was in her early fifties (clearly, she was much, much older.) She scoffed at me and said she was thirty-three. I let it go at that.

I asked her about her accent. She said she had many accents. When she speaks Russian, she said, she had no accent. When she speaks English, she has an accent. I asked her if she was from Russia, and she said yes, but that her mother was Italian. She speaks Russian, English, Italian, and Romanian. She probably speaks other languages, but we were on to other things.

When we got to the corner of 38th and Fifth, Bella asked a girl about the buses there. The bus she was looking for didn't stop at this corner, but she said she would figure out how to get home from there. As we waited, someone brushed past her.

"Why you have to push!?" She shouted. It caught me by surprise, then she looked at me and said, "I know my bag is big, but she didn't have to hit it." We waited a few more minutes, then she wanted to walk up one more block to see if the bus she wanted stopped there. I explained the the other bus would be along in about 20 minutes. It was then that she grabbed me and said, "Let's Go!"

As we walked the last block, she asked me why I offered to help her. I explained that all four of my grandparents have family around them 24/7. If they need something, someone is right there to do it for them. When I see a lady like Bella walking alone, in the rain, with several bags, I think of my grandparents and hope that if they were in the same position, someone would jump in and help them.

A bus came, and Bella waved her cane to stop it. She asked the driver if the bus would take her where she needed to go, and as she talked, a short line formed behind her. It wasn't another twenty seconds before these middle-aged store clerks from Lord and Taylor and other "high-end" merchants were yelling at her. I already knew her tho, and you can bet she didn't get on the bus or get out of the way until she knew what she needed to know. I handed her bags up to her on the bus and waved at her as I walked away.

I walked down Fifth Avenue for the second time tonight and realized it had stopped raining. And boy, it felt good!