follows
sitting at a starbucks. something a little odd happened moments ago. something even more odd happened a few days ago. first odd: a snapped some photos of a gentleman using a payphone in midtown. i was half a block away and could make nothing of the guy except that he was using a payphone. the sight of someone using a payphone has become somewhat unusual so i grabbed the shots, not really seeing the man‘s face or anything more than i could assemble in the camera‘s lcd viewfinder, which was itself obscured by sunlight and glare. i got home and looked at the pictures, realizing what i had done. i had captured images of a man having phone sex on a payphone. his right hand was stuffed deep into his pants pocket, but it was 90 degrees that day and not exactly hands-in-pocket weather. his face, which my zoom lens caught quite crisply from half a block away, was in such a shape that would not produce articulate words. more likely he was groaning or mooing or whatever heavy breathing a conscientious phone sexer might perform for his partner. which led me to the hope that this gentleman was at least engaged in this activity with a willing partner, and not an unattended answering machine.
odd 2: really not so odd, come to think of it, but in a similar spirit i spotted a man using a payphone. he had a laundry bag on the ground next to him which, with his grizzled appearance, suggested to me he might be homeless or a wanderer. whatever the case, i unwittingly ended up following the man into a rite-aid, where he dragged his bag along. he picked up a case of corona beer (12 longnecks) and what i think was some kind of cleaning supplies, then went straight from the rite-aid into an apartment building across the street, where i assume he lives. i felt like a voyeur, even though i surveilled nothing of substance. i imagine going home and figuring out who he is from a phone book, though his use of a payphone suggests he has no phone number. it would be a senseless pursuit but how hard is it, then, to track down someone off the grid…
