Don't know what

Bloomington IL 61701
February 23, 2020
Ambient ambiance: In the 50s and real sunny right in the virtual middle of the winter

I was walking up the nearest moraine right through the nearby alley when I spotted a feller in a long coat doing something or other - smokin', I reckon - and also talkin' to someone hidden from my view behind a utility pole of some sort. The feller spotted me about the same time I spotted him, and we both narrowed our eyes in the manner of Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef in "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly," or so I imagined.

But only for a moment - a quick moment, or a mini-moment. Well, it was real quick, as we both realized there was no reason to get excited.

Behind the utility pole sat a woman all bundled up in a long coat and scarf and whatnot and smoking a cigarette hard, but I heard her coughing before I actually saw her. She was coughin' to beat the band, like she had bronchitis, so when I saw her, I said, "Huh, are you feeling a little peeked today?"

She said, "I don't know that word - pee-ked? What does that mean?" "Well, " says I, "it means yer feelin' a little poorly. Maybe you have a cold?" "No," she says, taking another heavy draw off her cigarette. "Nothing like that" (Hack Hack). "I don't know what it could be."

"Say," I says, turning to the fellow in the long coat, which was a really nice trench coat, "That's a nice coat. Sharp." As I am admiring the coat, I see he has on *another* coat that's wrapped around his waist and tied in front. It was a brown bomber jacket that looked like it needed a fresh coat of shoe polish. He had the front of the trench coat open and I could see a long scarf and under that a sweater and then what looked to be a shirt and under that a heavy T-shirt. He smiled a big smile and said, "All layered up."

I turned away and prepared to continue my hike up the alley-moraine. The gal coughed Hack Hack! "Don't know what it could be," she said, and I said, "Take 'er easy" and walked off.


Says I to myself a few steps later, "I know what it could be - that damn CIGARETTE YER SMOKIN'."




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