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Defense Attorney Fed Cohn talks to his client Ezequiel Lopez-Quintero though interpreter Susan Rosas in the Kenosha Courthouse. Lopez-Quintero was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole by Judge Wilburn W. Warren III.
Baldessari, John. Fable: A Sentence of Thirteen Parts (with Twelve Alternate Verbs) Ending in Fable. Hamburg, Germany and New York, N.Y.: Anatol AV und Filmproduktion, 1977.
See MCAD Library's catalog record for this book.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzfMUrpN-Go
What do you do at the bakery? The flower shop? Learn vocabulary and short sentences about your town and city with this gentle learning video about town by ELF Learning. This is video 2 of 2.
library - I borrow books from the library.
movie theater - I watch movies at the movie theater.
park - I play in the park.
pool - I swim in the pool.
post office - I mail a letter at the post office.
restaurant - I eat at a restaurant.
school - I learn a lot at school.
supermarket - I buy food at the supermarket.
toy store - I buy toys at the toy store.
train station - I catch a train at the train station.
zoo - I see animals at the zoo.
map - A map is a picture of a place.
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On 7 November 2019, Trial Chamber VI of the International Criminal Court (“ICC”), unanimously, sentenced Bosco Ntaganda to a total of 30 years of imprisonment. The time Mr Ntaganda has spent in detention at the ICC - from 22 March 2013 to 7 November 2019 - will be deducted from this sentence.
Kenosha Sheriff Deputies Ray Merlin and Dan McCann reacts to a emotional statement by Amy Fabiano during Ezequiel Lopez-Quintero's sentencing. Lopez-Quintero was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole by Judge Wilburn W. Warren III.
Interpreter Susan Rosas leans toward Ezequiel Lopez-Quintero during his sentencing in a Kenosha Courtroom filled beyond capacity by law enforcement offiecrs. Lopez-Quintero was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole by Judge Wilburn W. Warren III.
Oasis of Mara, Joshua Tree NP, Twentynine Palms, CA
www.nbcsandiego.com/news/california/Man-Sentenced-to-Five...
A 26-year-old arson parolee was sentenced Monday in Los Angeles to five years behind bars and ordered to pay $21,000 in restitution for setting fire to historic trees and brush in the Oasis of Mara area of Joshua Tree National Park, which straddles the Colorado Desert and the Mojave Desert and offers sweeping views, including of the Coachella Valley and the high peaks of San Jacinto and San Gorgonio.
George William Graham of Twentynine Palms started the March 26, 2018 fire by igniting a palm frond with a cigarette lighter, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Graham was observed watching the blaze and admitted to law enforcement officers that he started the fire, which consumed a number of historic trees and other National Park Service lands and natural resources.
U.S. District Judge Manuel L. Real sentenced Graham to the maximum term on the federal charge of unlawfully setting timber afire.
National Park Service Law Enforcement Rangers arrested Graham at the scene of the fire. He was known both to the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department and the National Park Service as a California arson parolee, with prior law-enforcement contacts with both state and federal authorities, according to court
www.nps.gov/jotr/learn/historyculture/mara.htm
The Serrano planted 29 palm trees
The oasis was first settled by the Serrano who called it Mara, meaning "the place of little springs and much grass." Legend holds they came to the oasis because a medicine man told them it was a good place to live and that they would have many boy babies. The medicine man instructed them to plant a palm tree each time a boy was born. In the first year, the Serrano planted 29 palm trees at the oasis. The palms also provided the Serrano with food, clothing, cooking implements, and housing. In addition, the palms are habitat for a wide variety of desert creatures from colorful orioles to the palm-boring beetle.
Indians, miners, & cowboys all used the oasis
Early American survey parties arrived at the Oasis of Mara in the 1850s and found the area under cultivation by the Serrano. Corn, beans, pumpkins, and squash were all grown with the life-giving waters that rise at the oasis along the Pinto Mountain Fault. The Chemehuevi settled at the Oasis in 1867 and intermingled peacefully with the Serrano.
By 1870, prospectors attracted to California by the discoveries at Sutter's Mill had drifted into the desert looking for gold. The Anaconda Mine began operation south of the Oasis in 1874. The Lost Horse, the Desert Queen, and other claims soon followed. Trees began to be cut at the Oasis, and water siphoned away to support the growing mining operations.
On the heels of the miners, cattlemen moved to the area in the 1880s to take advantage of the high desert grasslands of the Pinto and Little San Bernardino Mountains. The McHaney brothers ran an active cattle trade that was alleged to include stolen cattle that they pastured in isolated rocky coves near Hidden Valley.
Bill McHaney became the first non-Indian to live at the Oasis in 1879. Later, Jack Rankin and Billy Neaves built an adobe house at the east end of the Oasis. It stood for over 40 years and served as a residence, a stage line stop, and a meeting place. The Barker and Shays Cattle Company dug a 600-gallon well around 1900 for use by the growing population. A 1902 census found 37 Serrano and Chemehuevi living at the Oasis. As more non-Indians arrived, the Indian families began to drift away, and by 1913, the Serrano and Chemehuevi were all gone.
Following World War I, the town of Twentynine Palms saw an influx of veterans suffering from the effects of gas inhalation, drawn to the area by its warm, arid climate. The establishment in 1936 of a vast stretch of the desert above town as Joshua Tree National Monument drew more people to the area. The Twentynine Palms Corporation donated the Oasis of Mara to the National Park Service in 1950 to use as its headquarters and primary visitor center.
Vancouver, Canada joins international emergency protests
following sentencing of Chelsea Manning!
Activists and supporters of Chelsea Manning (formerly
Bradley Manning) came together on August 21st on less than 24 hours
notice to protest the unjust prison sentence of 35 years handed down to
Manning. Mobilization Against War and Occupation (MAWO) set up an information
table in downtown Vancouver while supporters held picket signs, collected
petition signatures and passed out brochures with information about the case
and sentencing. There was an unprecedented response of passer-bys in support of
Manning, and the info table and petitioners were constantly busy with people
signing the petition and expressing their opposition to the outrageous
sentencing.
The action caught the attention of Vancouver’s main news
talk radio station CKNW, who sent a reporter to cover the action. Supporter’s
chants of “Free Bradley Manning Now!” were recorded as well as an interview
with MAWO co-chair Janine Solanki. Coverage of the protest was aired on the
evening news and repeated throughout the night to the next morning on this
widely listened to station.
Vancouver supporters of Chelsea Manning and Mobilization
Against War and Occupation are ready to continue the fight to free Chelsea
Manning, and will be protesting again with a rally and petition campaign this
Saturday August 24th, in the same location in front of the Vancouver
Art Gallery in Downtown Vancouver.
Congressional Black Caucus and Charles Hamilton Houston Institute Race & Justice "25th Anniversary of the Sentencing Reform Act" Rethinking Federal Sentencing Policy
Organized by Dr. E. Bernard Moore and Pierre-Alexandre Helony-Kapella
Does Massachusetts Need a (New) Three Strikes Law? | Rappaport Center Blue Cross Blue Shield Roundtable
House Minority Whip Bradford Hill, United States District Judge Nancy Gertner (ret.), and Middlesex County Sheriff Peter Koutoujian led a full capacity crowd in a lively debate of the pros and cons of the sentencing reform bills currently being negotiated by a Massachusetts legislative conference committee. Rep. Hill explained the evolution of “Melissa’s Bill,” which he introduced shortly after the murder of 27-year-old Melissa Gosule in 1999, from a California-type “three strikes” bill to a more narrowly tailored habitual offender provision targeted at the most violent offenders. Others questioned whether even a more narrow provision will reduce crime or just exacerbate prison overcrowding.
They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom
For trying to change the system from within
I'm coming now, I'm coming to reward them
First we take Manhattan, then we drink some gin
I'm guided by a signal in the heavens
I'm guided by this birthmark on my skin
I'm guided by the beauty of our weapons
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin
Public domain image of a print of Gin Lane by William Hogarth via Wikimedia commons w.wiki/3j5A words by Leonard Cohen en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_We_Take_Manhattan artwork via Hogarth en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beer_Street_and_Gin_Lane
Today, 6 May 2021, Trial Chamber IX of the International Criminal Court ("ICC" or "Court") sentenced Dominic Ongwen to 25 years of imprisonment following the Trial Judgment in which the Chamber found him guilty for a total of 61 crimes comprising crimes against humanity and war crimes, committed in Northern Uganda between 1 July 2002 and 31 December 2005. The period of his detention between 4 January 2015 and 6 May 2021, will be deducted from the total time of imprisonment imposed on him. The sentence may be appealed before the ICC Appeals Chamber by either party to the proceedings.
'Sentence
Thomson 7 years penal servitude.
Forrest fifteen months imprisonment.'
Sp Coll Mu Add. f50-51
This is an important leaf from of Peter Lombard's Sentences produced in England c.1280. (See also Ref 73).
The text is perhaps from Distinction XIV of the book, as the second rubric on the verso seems to refer to Chapter 77 of the book (Chapter 4 of that Distinction). Having said this, the other two rubrics are not easily recognisable as referring to Chapters 76 and 78 and it is not known what the long text on the recto is.
The size of the leaf, including repair, is 326mm x 219mm (12 8/10ins. x 8 6/10ins.).
Many letters in the top and bottom lines with calligraphic extensions, most highlighted in red and five of which include dragon's heads.
The text seems to have been proof read, as there are instances where omissions have been identified and noted in the margin (example - line 15, right column, recto). There are also instances where the original text has been removed and replaced (example - line 52, left column, recto).
This leaf is quite well glossed. There are two glosses in bright red, the longer of which translates as "Here begins the permitted authorities that are explained". Other glosses in at least four different hands can be identified.
CONDITION OF LEAF: -
The leaf must have fallen away from the book at some time and then repaired so that it could be re-attached. Otherwise it is in very good condition for its age.
PROVENANCE: -
This information has been provided by Dr. Christopher de Hamel, Librarian, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.
1.From a volume consisting of Books III-IV only of which this is the last leaf written in England about 1280;
2.Edward Walmsley, whose library was sold in London in 1795 (his signature in the bottom line of the outside column of text [mentioned in the 1980 catalogue description];
3.The manuscript was already imperfect by 1910 when a leaf was given by J.F.Lewis to the Free Library in Philadelphia (now Lewis fragment XIII:373);
4.Another leaf was owned in the late 1950's by the late Marquess of Cholomondley, who bequeathed it to the Society for Italic Handwriting, which still owns it;
5.Most of the volume, including the present leaf, was owned by Nell and Charles Wheeler (their sale, New York, 29th. July 1919, lot 593);
6.Purchased by the calligrapher C.L. Ricketts (and described in his possession by S. de Ricci, Census of Medieval and Renaissance MSS in the United States and Canada, I, 1935, p.646, No. 185, mentioning Ed. Walmsley [copy of entry attached to Ins. No. 73];
7.Sold at Parke Bennett in New York, 24th. February 1939, lot 280, for $100;
8.Re-appeared, still bound, at Sotheby's, London, 24th. June 1980, lot 59 (cat. description attached to Ins. No. 73);
9.Already broken up by late 1980 (see Sotheby's 14th. July 1981, lot 17 [cat. description attached to Ins. No. 73] ).
There is a leaf in Keio University Library, Tokyo, MS. 177, and the historiated initial for the opening of Book III, showing the Annunciation, was illustrated in A.M.W. As-Vijvers, Miniaturen en Monnikenwerk, 1999, p.57, no. 27, with colour plate.
GENERAL COMMENTS: -
Whilst not in perfect condition, this is a leaf of the greatest interest being from a book that was "the fundamental book of all medieval theology" (Bernard Quaritch). The book was written in the 12th. Century by Peter Lombard whilst he was professor at the cathedral school in Notre Dame in Paris.
It is a good example of the way that university textbooks were laid out - wide margins - as evidenced here by the wideness of the outside and bottom margins. They were made so to enable the student to write his notes about the text, the "Gloss".
In the comments section below add a sentence relating one vocabulary word to this picture.
Example: amino acid: The illustration shows a muscle cells and within the cell protein synthesis goes goes on. The t-RNA are bring the proper amino acids to the mRNA as we speak.
Kenosha Deputy Frank Fabiano Jr's widow, Amy, wipes her eyes during memorial ceremony in front of the Kenosha Courthhouse. Fabiano's murder, Ezequiel Lopez-Quintero, was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole by Judge Wilburn W. Warren III.
Today, 6 May 2021, Trial Chamber IX of the International Criminal Court ("ICC" or "Court") sentenced Dominic Ongwen to 25 years of imprisonment following the Trial Judgment in which the Chamber found him guilty for a total of 61 crimes comprising crimes against humanity and war crimes, committed in Northern Uganda between 1 July 2002 and 31 December 2005. The period of his detention between 4 January 2015 and 6 May 2021, will be deducted from the total time of imprisonment imposed on him. The sentence may be appealed before the ICC Appeals Chamber by either party to the proceedings.
On 15 December 2022 at 11:30 (Hague time), in the case The Prosecutor v. Dominic Ongwen, the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court delivered its judgment on the Defence's appeals against Mr Ongwen's conviction and sentence.
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Event Opening Date: September 10, 2022
Event Closing Date: September 30, 2022
Teleport To Jail Event
This event is in one location
This is an important leaf from of Peter Lombard's Sentences produced in England c.1280. (See also Ref 73).
The text is perhaps from Distinction XIV of the book, as the second rubric on the verso seems to refer to Chapter 77 of the book (Chapter 4 of that Distinction). Having said this, the other two rubrics are not easily recognisable as referring to Chapters 76 and 78 and it is not known what the long text on the recto is.
The size of the leaf, including repair, is 326mm x 219mm (12 8/10ins. x 8 6/10ins.).
Many letters in the top and bottom lines with calligraphic extensions, most highlighted in red and five of which include dragon's heads.
The text seems to have been proof read, as there are instances where omissions have been identified and noted in the margin (example - line 15, right column, recto). There are also instances where the original text has been removed and replaced (example - line 52, left column, recto).
This leaf is quite well glossed. There are two glosses in bright red, the longer of which translates as "Here begins the permitted authorities that are explained". Other glosses in at least four different hands can be identified.
CONDITION OF LEAF: -
The leaf must have fallen away from the book at some time and then repaired so that it could be re-attached. Otherwise it is in very good condition for its age.
PROVENANCE: -
This information has been provided by Dr. Christopher de Hamel, Librarian, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.
1.From a volume consisting of Books III-IV only of which this is the last leaf written in England about 1280;
2.Edward Walmsley, whose library was sold in London in 1795 (his signature in the bottom line of the outside column of text [mentioned in the 1980 catalogue description];
3.The manuscript was already imperfect by 1910 when a leaf was given by J.F.Lewis to the Free Library in Philadelphia (now Lewis fragment XIII:373);
4.Another leaf was owned in the late 1950's by the late Marquess of Cholomondley, who bequeathed it to the Society for Italic Handwriting, which still owns it;
5.Most of the volume, including the present leaf, was owned by Nell and Charles Wheeler (their sale, New York, 29th. July 1919, lot 593);
6.Purchased by the calligrapher C.L. Ricketts (and described in his possession by S. de Ricci, Census of Medieval and Renaissance MSS in the United States and Canada, I, 1935, p.646, No. 185, mentioning Ed. Walmsley [copy of entry attached to Ins. No. 73];
7.Sold at Parke Bennett in New York, 24th. February 1939, lot 280, for $100;
8.Re-appeared, still bound, at Sotheby's, London, 24th. June 1980, lot 59 (cat. description attached to Ins. No. 73);
9.Already broken up by late 1980 (see Sotheby's 14th. July 1981, lot 17 [cat. description attached to Ins. No. 73] ).
There is a leaf in Keio University Library, Tokyo, MS. 177, and the historiated initial for the opening of Book III, showing the Annunciation, was illustrated in A.M.W. As-Vijvers, Miniaturen en Monnikenwerk, 1999, p.57, no. 27, with colour plate.
GENERAL COMMENTS: -
Whilst not in perfect condition, this is a leaf of the greatest interest being from a book that was "the fundamental book of all medieval theology" (Bernard Quaritch). The book was written in the 12th. Century by Peter Lombard whilst he was professor at the cathedral school in Notre Dame in Paris.
It is a good example of the way that university textbooks were laid out - wide margins - as evidenced here by the wideness of the outside and bottom margins. They were made so to enable the student to write his notes about the text, the "Gloss".
Ishwar noi bolei sansar kori
chhaposa manus hoye
manuser mazhe
gachhpala goruchhagol
manuser sathe
godhuli batase aj jeno holir mela
akashete chhire khure katoshato rang -berong
-aro kato rong
athocho emon to kotha chhilona
kotha thakeo ba ki
tomay apon kore neya bujhte parlamna ajo
...bairer jhorjhonzha sob sohzhya hoy
talmatal ami
mataler moto monohsangjoger chesta kori
bishwasta haoar , sebok haoar
bhalobasar jogya haoar
bhalobasate bhoriye dite
bhalobasa tomar
doinondin khunte khaoa sansar o
mohanonde FM bajiye
chole jay vangarite chepe
anyadike joubon mete othe, bole
haari om haari om haari om haari
ami shudhu hisi kori
ardhek maneo janina tobu
motrochcharon o holo onek
sondhibadhya shabdogulo aro sondhi hoye
boba kannar moto gumriye othe
jibon
tumito onek bhalobesechho amay
ebare
mrittuchumbone shes karo sob
sob odhikar
On 23 May 2014, Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court (ICC), ruling in the majority, sentenced Germain Katanga to a total of 12 years’ imprisonment. The Chamber also ordered that the time spent in detention at the ICC – between 18 September 2007 and 23 May 2014 – be deducted from his sentence. Judge Christine Van den Wyngaert appended a dissenting opinion.
Pictured here: Members of the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court
PORTSAID, EGYPT - FEBRUARY 1: Riot police conscripts spotted inside the governorate headquarters - which broke out chaos as protester passed by
-
Thousands went down to the streets on Friday in memory of the dozens killed in clashes with security forces, also in solidarity with local football fans sentenced to death.
Protesters demanded the downfall of President Mohamed Morsi and called for the army to take over. Some protesters even demanded the independence of Porsaid - to be a separate country from Egypt.
The violence started after 21 football fans were sentenced to death for their involvement in last year's stadium riot that left 74 dead.
Army was deployed to the streets after Morsi announced a curfew - a curfew defied by protesters - to be imposed in Portsaid, Ismailia and Suez.
24 year-old Charly Pitman, of Brislington, Bristol, was found guilty of riot following a trial at Bristol Crown Court in April. On 7th July 2022 she was sentenced to three years in prison.
During her trial jurors heard how she positioned herself at the front of the crowd challenging police officers as they attempted to separate them from the neighbourhood police station.
They were shown footage of her acting aggressively towards the officers, striking their shields and helmets, and were told her actions caused them and others to fear for their safety.
Judge Julian Lambert said Pitman made a conscious decision not to leave the riot and encouraged others to attack police officers. He added jurors decided quickly there was ‘no basis for self-defence’, as Pitman had claimed during the trial.
Including Pitman, those jailed for offences committed during the riot have been imprisoned for a combined total of 74 years and nine months.
Sometimes it’s nice to be stared at. No, not like you’re a leg of lamb hanging on a rack at the butcher’s. But like the person can’t take their eyes off you because there’s something about you that is absolutely captivating. (Usually, there’s nothing captivating about you except for the bit of brownie still attached to the front of one of your teeth. Or maybe the bright colours of your panty that’s peeking through your fly that you left down the last time you went to the bathroom. Those can be considered ‘captivating’ right?)
But in the event that it’s not one of those things, (and I check quickly by running my tongue over my teeth and discreetly checking my pants) I wonder what it could possibly be that is making the guy at the other side of the bookstore look at me. Constantly. Maybe he thinks I’m someone else. That’s gotta be it. Or maybe he’s trying to decide which insanely ridiculous line he’s gonna come use on me. Oh jeez I can see his cogs turning. “Hey babe, are you an athlete? Coulda sworn you were, cuz you’ve been running through my mind all day! Har! Har!”
Oh god, suppose he’s one of those unimaginative conversationalists? Or worse what if he’s not a conversationalist at all? What if he’s REALLY dumb and he can’t form a complete sentence and all he looks at in bookstores is FHM for the “pretty pictures” and because the only magazine title he can actually spell is FHM and oh no I really don’t want him to come talk to me and I wish he’d stop staring at me and oh god he’s coming over here.
Be cool.
“If you haven’t already read that, you should. It’s excellent.”
Full, understandable sentences.
I look up and into clear, brown eyes. “Is it?” I ask, trying my hardest to remember what book it is that’s actually in my hand. I think it’s The Pilot’s Wife by Anita Shreve. In which case this guy is either a very eclectic reader or very, very gay.
“Yes, it is,” he says, “Trust me. She’s an excellent writer.”
“Okay.” I say with a smile. (Wow, who’s the blooming conversationalist now, huh?) I take this opportunity to look down at the book in my hand, and it really is The Pilot’s Wife. “Maybe I’ll give it a shot.”
I want to kick myself. Hard. I sound completely ditzy like I have that book almost by accident. Pull yourself together, girl! You can do better than this!
“You’re an Anita Shreve fan?” I ask. Well, so much for doing better.
He laughs. A pleasant sound. “Not really. An old girlfriend suggested it once so I obliged.”
Okay well at least he’s not gay. I think.
I tuck the book in the crook of my elbow so it looks as though I’m really considering buying it. (I already own the book. I was looking at the cover because it differs from mine and I thought it looked really nice.) “So what do you really read?” And here I start to hope that the answer doesn’t consist mostly of Archie comics. I don’t have anything against Archie, okay, it’s just not too comforting if someone can’t read a publication that doesn’t have pictures in it.
“A little of everything really.” His eyes leave me and take in the books surrounding us. “I don’t have a favourite genre or anything. I’d try anything once.” He looks back at me. “Except that romance Zane-Dickey-Erotic-Thriller-All-Black-People-Do-Is-Have-Sex nonsense.”
“I totally agree with you there.” I nod vehemently. “That stuff makes my skin walk.”
He laughs again, picks a random book up off the shelf, glances at the back and then puts it back down. “Well…” He shrugs and scratches the back of his neck. I could possibly be a nervous gesture; maybe he’s run out of conversation. “I’ll let you get back to your book shopping.” His smile is warm. “Enjoy.”
“Thank you. I will.” I watch him walk away. He glances back once, still smiling and then leaves the bookstore.
I look at the book in my hand and then towards the door. I roll my eyes, thinking that’s the most pathetic conversation I’ve ever had and he probably left because I thought I’m a complete and total loser. Oh well. I put Anita back on the shelf and move to a different section of the bookstore. Not like I’ll ever see him again anyway. And he’ll probably have forgotten the whole thing by, oh I dunno, five seconds from now.
In any case, I forgot about it, and time went by (as it always does). But as is inevitable, I found myself once again browsing in the same bookstore. I’m exploring the classics this time, trying to decide between The Woman In White and Animal Farm. (I end up getting both.) It’s Saturday and I’m particularly scruffy simply because I’m in town by accident. I’d accompanied my mother grudgingly, and now as she shopped for my brothers’ schoolbooks, I stood in faded denim shorts and a shirt that displays proudly I DON’T LIKE YOU EITHER. poring over ancient literature. Hair in a rough ponytail and Bitch-Face on, you could look at me and say that the world had a formidable opponent.
“Excuse me,” comes a voice from behind me. I don’t respond, because I know that unless they are Clifford, The Big Red Dog, they have ample room to pass behind me. I’m in a bad mood, okay. I’m not very hospitable when I’m like this.
“Excuse me?” they say again. I look around and there stands the guy with the clear brown eyes, smiling away.
This is when I decide that God has a sick sense of humour.
“You’re excused.” I say.
Ladies and gentlemen, the Dunce of the Century Award goes to *drumroll* Sunset Sealy!!! *Crowd Cheers!!!*
He laughs. Apparently he’s easily amused. “Did you enjoy The Pilot’s Wife then?”
He makes it sound as though we’re just picking up a conversation that we left off yesterday or ten minutes ago.
“I loved it.” I asnswer, “Really great story… very well written…”
“Yea, I really couldn’t believe that a man could live that kind of double life, you know?”
“I know! It was insane! I don’t know what I would have done if it were me in his wife’s position!”
Look at that. A conversation. We stand there for about fifteen minutes talking about Anita Shreve’s novel… and James Patterson’s novels… and Shakespeare’s plays. He talks about the literature like he’s lived it, and I don’t want to admit it to myself, but I’m impressed. He’s a music teacher at a primary school, really loves kids, doesn’t have any of his own, always loved reading, would like to open his own school of music someday, but that’s just a faraway dream, his name is Paul and could we talk more over coffee?
“Sure.” I hope I sound nonchalant. But of course now I have to find my mom to let her know that I’m disappearing with a strange man. Nice going.
Maybe I could send her a text message. That’d be better that yelling through a bookstore, “MOH-UM! I’m going for coffee with a guy I don’t know!”
I pull out my phone and drop her a quick line, fastest right thumb in history and all, and then Paul and I leave to get coffee. He gives me a sidelong glance and says “I love your shirt, by the way.”
I look down at my shirt, because of course I had forgotten what I was wearing, and then back to him. “Thanks,” I say with a smile. “It’s my stupid person repellent.” ← And that is my stupid person statement, folks. I’m just on a ROLL. Stupse.
In any case, I suppose you’re wondering when things start to go downhill. Don’t worry, I’m getting to that. But for now, it seems as though Reading-Coffee Drinking-Teacher guy is worth seeing again. And the fact that he had deciphered my shy drivel means that he’s genuinely interested. Or desperate.
The coffee happens. I mean… it happens. I laugh, I cry (cuz I’m laughing so hard), and I really have a nice time with this guy. Throughout our exchange though, I notice this chick sitting at the other end of the coffee shop. Let me be frank: de girl look like baddaBASH, den! And ever so often, she looks over in our direction. I think nothing of it at first, but after the first, I dunno, five hundred glances, it really started to bother me. I think about asking Paul if he knows her, but as luck would have it, I don’t have to! Bashy Chick rises from her seat and saunters over to us.
I’d like to say that she wasn’t super bashy and that she wasn’t popping her gum, smacking her lips and fanning herself with a washcloth. But she was.
I’d like to say that my first thought wasn’t “Wuh she really doin hay tho?” But it was.
“Wait, Pawul. I din even see dah was you.” She says to my coffee date. “Ya awrite?”
Paul looks up and uncertainty registers on his face. It soon changes, however, to reluctant recognition and then to horror. “Oh. Yea Shaniqua. (← I wish I was making that part up.) How you been?”
“I good, ya know.” It is at this point that Shaniqua proceeds to slap the back of her head in an effort to calm the itch in her weave. Without even realizing what I’m doing, I shield my coffee.
Baddabash smacks her lips and continues. “I jes tawt at I wud come and shout ya. Sence I ain see ya in a lil bit. Wait, how u lil girl? And ya wife? Ya still marred doh?”
Paul bites his lips and tries to gauge my reaction in his peripheral vision. “They’re both okay.”
Slimy and weasly apparently, but ‘liard’? At least not. It’s just interesting that neither one of these two supposedly important ladies came up in conversation. I mean, not like he HAD to mention them or anything, right? We were just having coffee. I was silly to think it would have been more than that anyway, right?
Still.
He could have mentioned them.
So while Shaniqua, Queen of the Itchy Weave finishes up with Paul, I finish up my coffee and make it a point to be checking the time on my watch. SmackLips finally walks away and Paul turns back to me. “Right.” His voice is a little lower now. “Where were we?”
“You were just telling me about your family.” My smile is radiant. “I believe that’s where we were.”
He flinches almost imperceptibly and sips his coffee. “I was going to mention them to you, ya know.”
“Oh, I KNOW.” The corners of my mouth are touching my ears by now and I know that if I don’t leave this coffee shop immediately and stop smiling, my lips will stick to my teeth and I’ll be able to audition for a role in Alice In Wonderland. “You can tell me about them the next time you see me. I really should get back to my mother.” I got up, still smiling, and make my way to the door.
Truth be told, I really didn’t want to be that abrupt, because then it would really seem as if that whole thing bothered me. It would seem as though I was looking for more than coffee and that I was extremely disappointed that this really nice guy turned out to have a wife and kid that never made it into our conversation.
I can hear his footsteps and I feel his hand on my arm. “I’d really like to see you again.”
He’s got quite a pair, this guy.
“Oh, I’m sure you won’t.” say I, Mistress of the Expanding Smile. “I’d better be going.”
These days I browse the bookstores with my headphones planted firmly into my ears. And if the retort on my t-shirt isn’t enough to deter you, then I go the extra mile and TELL you.
So stare if you must, but approach me not. Bookstore boys are bad news.
Sunset|Sealy|2006
Life Sentence, Asexuals, Underdog, Duck Duck Goose, and Face First at the Sports Palace. Sunday July 12, 1987.
Sentenced to 6 months, George Robb was sent to Newcastle City Gaol for stealing money.
Age (on discharge): 19
Height: 5.5
Hair: Dark Brown
Eyes: Hazel
Place of Birth: Scotland
Status: Single
Occupation: Joiner
These photographs are of convicted criminals in Newcastle between 1871 - 1873.
Reference:TWAS: PR.NC/6/1/1167
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