Tag: boston

strangers? why i’m talking to them.

laundry day equaled three loads of laundry and lots of time at the laundromat. the fall afternoon was stunning in its quiet nature and promise of cooler temperatures. i had just pulled a scarf out of the dryer and wrapped it around my neck, as the sun didn’t reach the bench i was sitting on.

now all sorts of snuggly, i re-opened my book and was a few pages in when i heard a slight crash / minor commotion at the window. i turned to look inside, but all i could see was the reflection of the house across the street. everything calmed down and so i returned to the book.

a girl walked out with her hands cupped around one another.

her: a dragonfly! i’ve got a dragonfly in my hands!

me: *smiles* *thinks to self, ah ha, that’s what that noise was. she was trapping the dragonfly against the window, catching it so she could set it free.* *has no words for this* *smiles again*

she saved the dragonfly from the laundromat, an odd juxtaposition of wild and domesticity. i sure wished i could fly away from the mounds of laundry that needed to be folded.

you’re not supposed to talk to strangers … but here’s why i am.

the (hilarious) talking portion of the evening ended and flowed into the signing part. we stepped and shuffled and looked around trying to figure out where the line began. all i knew is that i was at the back of it. i left my bag guarded by G and settled in to wait.

librarian: oh, maggie, we have a signing table over here for you.

and just like that, the end of the line became the beginning and i was the third person handed a post-it note with my (first) name on it. being #3 was good (not a long wait) and bad (i only had two people in front of me to figure out what to say).

let me illustrate via tweets (read from the bottom up) what was roughly going through my brain at this moment:

okay, so, that was me 2 hours before the event and now THERE WAS ONLY ONE PERSON in front of me before it was my turn. i still hadn’t decided what to say! holy cow it was my turn! so fast! be calm, mumford. be cool, mumford. stop grinning like a lunatic, mumford. get your head in the game, mumford.

me: hi.

maggie: how are you?

me: i’m good and you? *sheesh, could i have BEEN any more boring?* *say what you meant to say*

maggie: thanks for coming tonight.

maggie: *looked at post-it note with name on it* wait, abby mumford?

me: *eyes widened* *tongue dangled out of mouth**crickets chirped* *somehow nodded*

maggie: i recognized your eyeballs.

me: *slightly confused because, look again at my avatar. me = sunglasses and this was the only way she could have known of me* *went with it* hmm, well, yes, they are out. no sunglasses at night for me.

maggie: *signed page*

me: *quickly changed subject because the line is long and i had to say this* thank you for writing THE SCORPIO RACES. that book! oh. that book. *there were too many things to say about it and all the words tried to come out at once* *mumbled some plus she knew my name!* *stopped talking*

maggie: oh, what’s your favorite part?

me: when sean comes over for dinner.

maggie: and he brings the bread. yes! when there’s that line “you’re my weakness,” my husband told me “that’s the money shot.”

me: oh, that was a good one! *wanted to say more* *peered at loooong line behind me* well, thank you, maggie!

p.s. if i want to get technical, i suppose this post should be named conversations with acquaintances #1.

p.p.s. i can’t stop smiling.