American Ingenuity

I was in a place that is a center of knowledge. I got into a conversation about politics with a guy that works there. A young Chinese guy wearing short shorts and a flight bag slung across his shoulder joined us. This place attracts people that want to have an intellectual experience. The guy that works there has a bright spirit that draws people to him. He set up his own sound system at his work station to combat the house music. Although he's in his thirties, he favors syrupy white bread music from the fifties. I wanted to say, could you shut that shit off, but it didn't seem polite.

A homeless guy joined us. He said that he used to be a stockbroker on Wall Street. We talked about the economy. He said that to make money in a real estate downturn you could burn down your house for the insurance money. To throw off the insurance investigators you just "burn your neighbor's house down." This led to an interesting discussion because the guy that worked there used to be an insurance investigator. The homeless guy also had another tip, "What some people do to make money is, they form a company, hire a moron as the CEO, take out a two to four million key man insurance policy, fly him down to the Carribean, take him scuba diving, kill him and collect the insurance money."

"Who does that?" I asked.

"People." he replied. Maybe he really did work on Wall Street.

By this time the guy that worked there was walking around straightening out merchandise, which may be his way of ending conversations.

"Nice talking to you." I said to the homeless guy, excusing myself.

I spent the rest of my time there in the cafe, reading. I was bad; I had iced tea. It was a lovely day although the guy at the next table looked a little bit like a serial killer. He didn't say or do anything bad; he just has a cold look. When I went to get more books I took my iced tea with me. This worked out well because I didn't get poisoned and kidnapped. I read books for three or four hours. I read Nowhere But Up, Justin Beiber's mother's autobiography and a book by a woman who adopted an owl. Then I went home.

It was a very successful day, over all.

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