Bazaar Night

Draft

                                                               BAZAAR NIGHT

                           Stefon Napier

Conner stood leaning up against the wall of the Pool Hall observing the traffic going by on Fremont. Traffic was slower than usual today because of the work being done on the sewers. Nobody seemed to mind much because no one was using their horns and although it was the middle of summer, the day was pleasant and friendly enough that even the smallest nonsense could be endured. A few hard hat men clambered out of the porthole in the street sweating slightly and blinking in the sudden light. They moved the barricades and crossed the street to take lunch on the sidewalk. They tossed down their tools and leaned their backs up against the wall where Conner lounged. They did not offer a hello but they can perhaps be forgiven as an empty stomach puts a man at odds with everything. At the Café Azure across the street a waitress observed the men through the front window for a while and then vanished into the back kitchen. She reappeared moments later holding a sandwich wrapped in foil. Greeting a policeman as he stepped inside, she stepped out into the sunshine and delicately navigated the traffic, porthole and barricades to the other side of the street where Conner and the hard hat men were. She handed the sandwich to the youngest looking of the men who smiled and thanked her while his fellows smirked and snickered at this new development. The woman playfully berated them and after a little more conversation she gave the hard hats a quick wave and hastened back across the street. As she slipped back into the café she gave a quick glance back at the youngest looking of men before hurrying over to the table where the policeman sat.  Only Conner caught the hint on her face. It was only a bit of spare sawdust falling from the bare brownness of her eyes but that was enough.

“Ah so the woman is in love!” Conner thought. “Love, and at this time of day!”

  He glanced at the youngest looking hard hat who discovered that the sandwich was beef. He gleefully showed off his prize to his companions. Conner shook his head.

“Poor man! Unlucky fellow! She’s only got a speck of love to give. He might as well jump down the porthole.!”

Conner eyed the sandwich for a moment.

“ Well maybe not completely unlucky, the woman does know how to feed a beast but that only makes him equal to an animal in a zoo.”

“Oh well I’ve got my own love to find so I can’t wish either of you well at the moment.”

Conner fished his hand in pocket and checked his watch. A half past three. He leaned off the wall and walked toward 2^nd Avenue away from the Café and the porthole. Traffic began to pick up in this direction and the air here felt a bit more urgent than it did on Fremont. Conner rounded a corner just before 2^nd and found himself in a hobbled but determined little bazaar occupying the alley and a small portion of a walking park. Conner’s mother used to call it “Little Grand Bazaar” after a place she visited when she lived in Istanbul for a year. Conner didn’t quite know where “grand” figured in but it was a colorful crowd for a Saturday past half way done. Conner had to press himself against the alley wall get pass. Take care to avoid the odds and ends off delicate trinkets that hung every few feet he managed to make it pass most of the crowd barely avoiding being drawn into a dispute between and old couple and vendor who sold them a bad rug(Apparently it came with fleas). Towards the back end of the alley where people mostly sold vegetables and spices there was a man who only sold homemade boxty and colcannon and a Burmese girl who offered a rose to anyone that asked.

The girl rolled her eyes when she saw Conner but allowed him a kiss on her forehead when he approached.

“So the poet returns! Have you been staring the world down again?”

Conner glared.

“Why yes, as a matter of fact I have and have had a pleasant time doing so!”

The girl giggled.

“You are hopeless. How many times I have I told you that no matter how often you stare at the world it will never blink.”

The man selling boxty and colcannon coughed to suppress a laugh. Conner ignored him.

“It never blinks because its surprised that there are beautiful women like yourself handing out roses in bazaars everywhere instead of allowing men like me to court you”.

The girl looked aghast.

“But…but I have never refused you and you have never asked!

Conner smirked and gestured towards the roses.

“My dear woman, a man cannot possibly date a woman who gives away freely the magnificent but deadly rose. You are advertising beauty as a sin.