By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger
RE-POST 2014
Scene: Wegmans as I pushed my cart past the cheese department towards seafood. Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye a blur appeared and then she suddenly raced past me.
I took her in within two seconds: young, thin, graceful, wearing multicolored tights with leggings, and a bright scarf around her neck and a headband besides. She was blond and pretty and she was pushing a small cart quickly, darting side to side to get somewhere in a hurry.
The apparition breezed by me, cutting me off, and I came to an abrupt stop as I watched her pass by. She seemed like a fleeing gazelle or a bird in flight. I was mesmerized as she continued on, turning sharply to the left, moving towards seafood and then left again. I could not take my eyes off her.
Then I heard a male voice speak to me, “Isn’t she beautiful; she’s a professional dancer, you know. ” It was a man standing behind me, perhaps in his forties, with dark hair, a smile, and a small pony tail. “She comes here often,” he said.
He wasn’t with her; he seemed to materialize, like a solitary Greek chorus, for the purpose of explaining what I had just witnessed, as if the moment required further clarification.
I looked back in her direction, but she was heading toward the bakery and was almost out of sight. I turned to him and said, “Wow. That’s something! And she really can move that cart around.”
I felt foolish with that remark. It was too mundane. It should have been more insightful. I looked away for a second and then back—he was gone.
Now I felt that I had witnessed a sort of flash ballet, and, in retrospect, I really enjoyed it.
Then off I went to pick up a sesame bagel, coffee and my morning review of the news. I tried being more graceful with my cart, but no way.
JOHN WILLIAMS AND ITZHAK PERLMAN From the film Scent of a Woman: “Por Una Cabeza” Tango.