“Dearie Me. I only wish I could be anywhere but here today…” Sally talks to herself as she sits down on a chair after setting up her popcorn cart for a day’s operation of her business. She has been selling popcorn, chocolate-covered bananas, frozen fruits, and French Fries for three years. Sally loves her job because she likes to interact with folks of all walks of life and hears their own stories of life and themselves. It gives her a new fresh point of view on her own life, which helps her look at her existential problems with a variety of possible solutions. Sally feels a sense of community and finds her existence in her daily dealing with her customers, which can’t be materialized simply by reading books and internalizing the knowledge in the abstract. But Today is different. That is, only today she feels out of place, misplaced, and discontent with her sweet establishment.
The proximate cause of the vagary of her state of mind is her inability to go to see the outdoor music concert held in Elusian Park today at 12:00 PM. It’s a classical music event in which her favorite Regal Philharmonic Orchestra will play scores of music from the Baroque to Romantic periods. According to a program Sally has read from the Calico Times, the orchestra will play her beloved “Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G Major” By Bach, “Fledermaus Waltz” by Strauss II, “Trumpet Voluntary” by Hendel, “Radetzky March” by Strauss I, and so forth. Sally’s soul leapt up with effervescent joy and her spirit sprang from the dormant mode of cultural activity upon reading it and wanted to attend the concert in a heartbeat. So she checked the onlie ticket booth to get a ticket, which was sold at $3.00 each yesterday. But alas, all were sold out as there were many more likely-minded spirits wanting to enjoy the festivity of music – the festivity of art in the same place at the same time. A phantasm of a basking herself in the gorgeous feast of elegant music is vanquished.
Nevertheless, Sally is not sulky or soaked in a miserable feeling of being left out of a cultured crowd. It’s just one of those moments when you feel like doing things that you feel most comfortable and familiar with differently just for one day. Being a responsible and sensible being she is, Sally tries to take the image of the musical concert in her mind’s eye and the music that plays in her ears off her mind by gently forcing herself to turn to a different subject. “I should have nice brunch with a cup of fresh Americano coffee at Snoopy’s now. It will make me awake again!” So she goes to the cafe that is just around the corner of the street with her cart being attended by her fellow street vendor Randy, the fruit guy. “Randy, thanks much for your help as always. I will come back in an hour with a nice take-out set from the cafe.” And when she goes into the cafe, to her pleasant surprise, Bach’s “Bourandebourgh Concerto No. 3 in G Major” welcomes her lovely entrance. This is sufficient for Sally to make amends for her failed hope of going to the concert today, and what with a cup of warm Americano coffee accompanied by her beloved brunch meal set and what with the customary cozy ambience of the cafe, Sally desires nothing more and becomes content with such simple joy of the moment she’s in.
Intelligent, civil, and good-heated Karl is now Avonlea’s beloved conductor of a lovely tram that almost everyone uses on a daily basis, even if some of them owns a car. Karl operates a tram 5 days a week except Fridays and Sundays from 7:00 AM to 6:00 PM. But he does not feel exhausted or overworked. He loves the way his passengers smile back to him and greet him when boarding and getting off his tram. Sometimes, he has not-so-good days for being only a human, especially when Hannah nags for no apparent reason or fault-finds with just about anything with him in the morning or the night before. Nevertheless, the facts that he is living his dreams in memory of his childhood memories that are dear to him and that his age does not mean anything to him to achieve his dream are the mainstay of fulfilling demands placed on his daily tasks at work, at home, and with himself. Hooray for our magnificent Karl and his continuous endeavors in life!
It’s one fine Saturday afternoon, and Hans Bauer and Zeus Magoo are as cheerful and loquacious as sparrows in the morning sky as they are talking away about the weekly panorama of Avonlea,families, and businesses at the delightful brunch hosted by their good business partner John Elephant, who has not only an acute business mind but also intelligence embodied in geniality out of his deep concern for humanity. So as a token of appreciation of individuality, John asked Hans and Zeus in advance of their choices of brunch rather than deciding the menu on his part (or his wife Rachel’s, to be precise). It’s in fact convenient for Rachel to prepare for the guests’ meals and also interesting to detect a trace of character and personality in each of the meals by its ingredients and condiments it accompanies. As tree is known by its fruits, a persona can be interpreted by what he eats to a certain extent because people tend to stick to diets of their choice.
Zeus Magoo, who runs a convenient kiosk on 1291 Suhs Avenue, is surprised by John’s sudden intention of relocation to California because to Zeus moving a place of livinghood with a family, let alone his means of business seems to be too risky a business itself. “Well, it’s a nice idea to get away from the grim East, but I don’t think the nice weather should be the alpha factor to make you decide to uproot your livinghood, John. I mean, you can always vacation there with your family to escape from the blustery winter days, but moving there for good may ensue unforeseeable implications you can’t think of. Of course, you have enough resources to officiate a new residential and business addresses in the Sunshine State, but you need to think about this moving there carefully.”
“Yes, I agree with Zeus on that.” Hans Bauer, a tram conductor of thirty years, chimes in with his quiet agreement. “John, you are a man of prudence and sagacity, so it is hardly to expect you to act on impulses or whims. Think again, and think good. We don’t want to lose our trusty John to the Wild West. Surely, the eastern climate is not the most cheerful not salubrious to the sunny temperament, such as you possess, but then it’s not too bad to live here. At least, it’s better than Hanover, where I cam from at the age of eighteen.” Hans is then momentarily carried away by the floaty recollections of his early year with a melody of nostalgia.
“I will have a slice of Pecan Pie and a cup of cafe au lait.” Paul ordered his staple morning diet at La Boum and then started reading the newest issue of the Times. He scanned the front page to see if there was anything interesting except articles regarding sports, entertainment, and politics – yes, politics, which Aristotle once said that anyone not interested in politics should be either a divine being or a beast. Paul was unsure of which of the kinds he would belong to, depending upon his mood of a day, but it wasn’t simply his cup of tea because it’s all a reality show. Of course, Paul being a good citizen casts his vote in gubernatorial, mayoral, general, not to mention, presidential elections. But the idea of politics as a subject looks too grim and pompopus and prepertorial. Paul’s vision of the world is of a Rational Optimist equipped with bookish knowledge and abstract ideas about humanity balanced with his sharp intelligence.
Since the opening of a chic French Restaurant La Boum, it has gained a reputation for serving a mune of homestyle dishes at reasonable prices in a very lovely atmosphere. Notwithstanding auspicious popularity of his restaurant, Randy the chef and owner of La Boum is still a simple man at heart, always finding happiness in every little way like St. Therese of Little Flower advised and practiced in the 19th century. In fact, it was Randy’s consistent positiveness and pleasant deportment coming from his heart that impressed highly enterprising and brilliantly intelligent John Elephant, a town’s real estate developer who owned most of the commercial and residential properties in Avonlea Consequently, John let Randy rent the restaurant for for an unspecified period on one condition that Randy’s monthly due would always be made on time.
In the meantime, Seraphina and Mathilda were having their afternoon lunch in the restaurant after their fabulous window shopping in Lotte Department Store newly renovated with more variety of selections from apparel to shoes, cosmetics and household appliances, chocolates and restaurants. “I don’t like the new version of the department store.” Seraphina, who was tired of walking around the aisles, confided to her friend Mathilda before her first bite to a Chef’s Sandwich, one of Randy’s specialties. “It’s just all a pompous hyperbole of the same stuff only arranged and called differently. But I have to admit that the whole interior design of the lobby is quite elegant with aromas of sohistacately scented perfume that sweeten the entire floor.
Mathilda thought that Seraphina was often hard to please, critical of anything glamourous or popular contrary to her fashion-conscious appearance that seemed to belong to a crowd in a Vanity Fair. “I like the remodelled store. It has now a wider aisles to walk around with attendants with more professional but nicer attitudes and more various items to select. It had taken about 8 months for the store to open it again. And I honestly think they had put quite a few huge efforts to make it better to accommodate themselves to today’s demanding satisfaction of us customers. So we should give them a laudable credit even just for the bona-fide efforts. Don’t you think so, Seraphina?”
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