A Street Moment

.. I watched a couple carry their baby to the Emergency Department.  A major university hospital, in the middle of Baltimore’s splendor for cultural acceptance and heritage, offers hope.  Hundreds of couples would carry their babies into that old building today.  Most would carry their babies back home.

The streets were full of students, many wearing their white coats in pride.  One day they will offer hope as well.  They will wrap a stethoscope around their neck and believe in themselves. One day they will be in that Emergency Department and learn how one swallows his own soul while telling couples that their baby will not go home tonight.  May be never. But for now, students wore their white coats for innocence.

.. I was in thought when a man touched my arm.

“Excuse me sir, where can I find something to eat?”

He was in his sixties, I guessed.  Clean shaved, yet wearing what men wear when they cannot afford clothing.  His eyes had opaqueness, and no depth.

“The cafeteria, of course, or  ...”

“Is there an eatery for plain folks like me?” he interrupted.

Plain folks.  Are these the ones who do not wear white coats? 

“Sure.  There is an all-you-can eat Oriental food place around the corner.  And a hamburger joint a bit left from there.”

He looked at me with some curiosity.

“With your permission, sir, I have to say that you have an interesting accent.  What is your heritage?”

Unexpected question!  A hungry man turned sociologist.  Yet, there was something about him that intrigued me.

“Armenian,” I said, “very Armenian”.

He hung his head down for a minute, and then looked back at me.

“I would have thought more from the Mediterranean than from Asia Minor,” he noted.  “But, I am hungry and cannot think well.”

Then, he shook my hand, and said “All-you-can-eat sounds good!”

And left.

I watched him disappear around the corner.  I did not try to understand the conversation, nor be surprised by it.  It was an old campus in the middle of Baltimore, where students wore white coats, and where couples carried their babies to the Emergency Department, located in an old building.

Date unknown

(While the story is from Baltimore, the picture is from Taipei... Just that I smile every time I see the name of this restaurant. I have not been there yet, but hope to do so an my next visit!)

© Vahé Kazandjian, 2014