Date: May 10, 2009
Time: 5:00 p.m.
Place: Fortuna Safeway
Usually I reserve this space for conversations I've overheard. Well, actually, they're usually conversations that I've eavesdropped on, but overheard sounds less pathetic. Today, though, I'm sharing a conversation I had with a man at Safeway that I really can't figure out.
I am fortunate to have been born a nutball magnet. (Thanks, Mom, and Happy Mother's Day.) If there's a person who's a little off, a little rough around the edges, a little wild-eyed anywhere near me, they will almost always start talking to me, and it's almost always fascinating.
Today I was shopping for bananas. I'll only eat them when they're barely ripe, so I was trying to find the very greenest there. A man with unkempt grey hair started fondling the bananas next to me.
"You know," he said, "You can get these at Costco, and they look like they came right off the boat."
I looked at him quizzically. I wasn't sure what boat he was talking about.
"It's true. My wife and I got some, and when they turned brown, we ate them with cat."
I wasn't quite sure how to respond, so I didn't, just cocked my head in confusion as he hurried away.
I'm still left pondering. Is this a racist joke that I don't get? Does his cat like really ripe bananas? Should I stop shopping in Fortuna? Anyone?
