Don't leave home without it

Today I went back to the Manhattan terminal to stand kettles again. When I got to the Staten Island terminal, all ready to catch the 3:30 boat, I realized I had forgotten to bring a copy of our permit. My choices at this point were three-fold:
1) Take the boat to Manhattan without it and hope security doesn’t ask me about it. This is the quickest but riskiest option, because I’d catch the 3:30 but might have to come right back.
2) Take the train all the way back to Stapleton to get the permit. This is the slowest option and really is only viable if no one is available for #3.
3) Get someone to bring me a copy in time to at least catch the 3:50 boat.

I decided not to risk #1 and got Steve to come bring me the permit. He got it to me in time to catch the 3:50, but I still needed to get the wheeling kettle stand out of the locked closet. Now I couldn’t find anyone to let me in. We’re not supposed to ask security as they have far more pressing concerns. The only terminal employee I could find was a woman sweeping up who spoke no English. I tried to figure which would be quicker: finding another employee myself or finding a way to communicate what I needed to this one. My first thought was the former, but soon realized the latter, or at least a compromise, was my only hope.

There was a time when I was actually functional speaking Spanish. Not fluent, mind you, but I could communicate and even converse a little. Five years of complete nonuse have left me more than a bit rusty.

Es un otra persona que limpia y habla ingles?

Good enough. She pointed me to the person I needed, who made sure I got the stand. Muchas gracias Senora.

So I caught the 4:10. We’ll have to work on that one. Tonight was relatively uneventful, but there was one exchange that brought a smile to my face.

A friendly young lady with a pleasant smile made a donation and I thanked her and wished her a Happy Thanksgiving. She seemed quite pleased with this and walked away. Then she came back around my other side and popped up right in front of me.

“Could you say ‘Happy Birthday’ too, because tomorrow’s my birthday.”

Happy Birthday!


Oh, and no one ever asked me for that permit.