THE MEETING
My longtime friend who now lives in New York City asked, as a favor for a friend of hers, that I meet with a woman who had just moved to Albuquerque. The newcomer’s name was Suzy. My friend had never met Suzy but was told she was very interesting and spoke five languages and needed a friend. I was more than willing. You can never have too many friends!
After several emails from Suzy’s friend (who told me how to meet Suzy, saying that meeting in person would be best because Suzy had a heavy French accent and wasn’t always easy to understand) and my friend, who thanked me profusely, I awaited the phone call from Suzy, to plan the meeting in person so I would be able to understand her thick accent...
A few days later, Suzy called. She wanted to meet close to the university but I wanted to fix her lunch so I suggested she come to my house and gave her my address. I didn’t think her accent was so heavy as to cause any lack of understanding, either.
On the appointed day, I shopped for groceries for the vegetable lentil soup I was going to serve. I bought all organic veggies and organic chicken stock. I cooked the lentils per instructions on the package. (I had never cooked lentils before so I didn’t want them to turn into mush as the label indicated, IF cooked too long). When they were done, I added the vegetables and stock and simmered it so the veggies wouldn’t overcook. The meal was ready to be served when Suzy was about to arrive.
I got a phone call from Suzy asking directions soon after I set the utensils out. She was lost. It was then that she told me she was walking, having lived in New York City, she did not have a car. I lived about two miles from the university. I offered to drive to find her but she assured me the walk was fine because she was used to walking. I suggested that when she came to the crossroads of my street and Central Avenue, she should call me on her cell phone so I could go outside and look for her.
When I asked how I would recognize her, she told me she was 6’7” tall and laughed.
About that time, a veritable giant black woman in a wool pancho appeared on the corner. There was Suzy. No doubt about it.
I went out to greet her and walk her to my front door. She was so incredibly graceful and beautiful and tall, very, very tall. I had to strain my neck to look up at her!
I ushered her inside trying to placate my dog that was afraid of tall men. My dog howled with fear and I suggested Suzy sit on my sofa, not be afraid of my dog and my dog would then calm down.
I jokingly said, “I hope you are not allergic to cats, because I have two of them!” She was allergic, she said. She turned her nose up when I said cats so I figured she had the allergy called, “I hate cats” so I told her they were outside and wouldn’t be coming in while she was visiting. Little did Suzy know she was sitting on the very sofa that my cats slept on, night and day. The upholstery showed cat fur, too, if you looked really closely.
We sat in silence. I thought she might comment on my art because it is everywhere but she never said a word.
We sat in silence some more until I asked what she had been doing in New York. She said she had been modeling in NYC but preferred the designing of clothes to the actual wearing of the garments for show. She was from South Africa and came to the USA on a basketball scholarship. The modeling agencies loved her right away. She wanted to move right back to NYC, having moved to Albuquerque to “find herself” but realized it wasn’t her town, at all. Our conversation last about a minute until silence set in again.
I asked if she was hungry and if she would like me to hang up her pancho. She said she was very hungry and very cold. It was 88 degrees that day. Thank goodness I was serving her hot soup, I thought.
I brought out the filled soup bowls and proudly announced how everything was organic and freshly bought for the soup. I didn’t have a dining room table so we had to sit on the sofa and eat on the coffee table causing Suzy’s long legs to be about even with her shoulders. She didn’t complain; bless her heart. She didn’t sneeze from her “cat allergies” either.
To my horror, her first spoonful of soup sounded as if she was eating it. I heard loud crunching. I tasted it and yes, it was like eating small, hard pebbles in a bland, bland water base. I asked if she wanted salt and pepper and she declined. We both sat and munched our soup out loud. I wanted to laugh until I cried. When she finished I actually asked if she wanted more. She said, “no”. I couldn‘t believe that I served this vibrant twenty-something woman an old woman’s soup. I knew she wouldn’t understand my explanation so I didn’t give her one.
After more silence, I suggested we take my dog to the park. I told her I would give her a ride home so she wouldn’t have to walk. We got into my little Honda Civic and her legs filled the entire front part of the car. I tried to make small talk all the long drive (about 5 blocks) to the park. She kept her window rolled up and the car temperature was about 110 degrees. I was sweating.
We walked around the park and then sat in the sun on a park bench and I noticed Suzy was shivering in her wool pancho. I was wearing a short-sleeved tee shirt and jeans.
“Well, time to go” I announced and into my small car we went, windows rolled up.
I dropped Suzy off at a small, tiny apartment complex on a very busy street and waved goodbye as she lumbered out of my Honda. She never looked back at me.
I went home and cooked that lentil soup another hour and added some canned tomatoes to it and lots and lots of salt. I had enough lentil soup for twelve people.
I never heard from Suzy again.
