THE GYPSY CHRONICLES – Day 10.
Scintillating in luxury and comfort is therapeutic if mastered with moderation. So, my second week here in the hotel, I opened the thruway to discerning tasks: a deep dive into publishing my book, rewriting the ending so art isnβt imitating life, but the other way around, searching for part-time employment, a seriously pragmatic approach to where to move, and writing my pop-up columns.
It is tremendously easy to write from this hotel room, without those damn barking dogs next to my home, the constant vibration and noise of mowers, blowers, and city works.
On my desk is Henry Millerβs book, On Writing, and every page moves the mental nerves in some way. βThe writer lives between the upper and lower worlds: he takes the path in order eventually to become the path itself.β From living in isolation in my home, my tenants are cordial but reserved; I am now swept like a surfboard into a wave of public swells. It is their stories that come out of this experience.
I begin with the Casino, attached to the hotel lobby, and open at 11 am. Arrivals begin: gamblers shuffle inside, some in wheelchairs, younger men with speedy strides, couples, single women, a plethora of humanity in common, with one mission: to win. I take a seat at the bar, and eye wonder at the slot machines. I havenβt counted them, but the room for walking is limited. There is one machine with the motif of a bull, and when someone sits, the bull grumbles loudly, so I pull out my earplugs. I watched one man win, and after he left, other players who heard the winning clang took his seat. It is a popular machine.
The casino looks to be around eight thousand square feet, with seventeen hundred gambling options. The path to get back to the hotel, I have to navigate around and around. The first time, of course, I went in circles as my sense of direction is like a butterfly’s.
β Excuse me, can you tell me the most direct way back to the hotel?β
β Lost are you? Follow this carpet pattern, the one in the middle, and it will take you back.β
Off I trot, staring at the paisley pattern, through six different arenas to the hotel. I went outside and took a seat on the bench. A woman passed by and stopped, β How are you?β
βAdapting, Iβve not been here but a few days.β
β Oh, weβre just checking out. I canβt wait to get home to my Pomeranians. I have two. I rescued them, and they are my babies,” she continued, talking about the dogs. As she spoke, I noticed how immensely liberated she was in conversation, and how her hair matched her outfit. She smiled while talking.
β Iβve seen you before. I noticed your style; you were wearing such a pretty outfit”, she said earnestly.
β Well, thank you, and so are you.β
β Are you alone? I think you are, but donβt let that get you down.β
β I wasnβt ready for a very long time. I’m crossing over that mountain, only Iβm not like you. I canβt approach people the way you just did.β
β I used to be like that! Now I donβt care, and you shouldnβt either. God loves you, we are all his children, and we need to love each other.β
I let her go on and thought any minute she might bring out a bible or a cross and start praying for me.
β I bet my husband is looking for me; heβll be mad, not really, heβs used to it. Weβve been together forty-five years.
β Remarkable. Whatβs your secret?β
β Love, respect, and compromise, itβs really very simple. You’ll meet your honey, I feel it, you want that, donβt you?β
βYes, when a man tells me everything is going to be okay, I settle down. Iβm emotionally overweight.β
βYouβre funny, see that is another quality that gets you through life.β
β I see a man approaching, and she introduces her husband. He is tall, and emulates a calmness and contentment as he hedges into the conversation about going to Lake Placid.βΒ
β Have you been there?β he asked.
β Years ago. Itβs beautiful.β
β I turned towards his wife. I didnβt get your name.β
β Donetica, Italian, my friends call me Dee.β
βI’m Loulou, and thank you for stopping by my bench.β
She giggled, blew a kiss, and said in parting, β I love you.β
As she left, a woman exited the hotel in a state of exhilaration.
β It looks like you had a good day,β I said
β Yes!Β I won eight hundred dollars. She swung her purse and skipped off. Β
Hmm, I wouldnβt mind winning at all, but Iβm in enough ambiguity to play against those odds. To be continued.
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ADVENTURERS IN SINGLE LIVINGNESS 