I was sitting on the upper deck of a little ferry that ran between Halifax and Dartmouth. A man was sitting opposite me. He was tall, good looking, close shaved beard and a ball cap, a dimple beneath the beard, shorts. He wore a tee shirt that had the most enormous and fearsome skull that I have ever seen, gray on black with its ligaments or tentacles stretching around his shoulders and onto his back.
As seems to be the norm, his arms were covered with tattoos, skulls, dragons twisting around brawny arms. On his right leg he had another tattoo of “Death” with a scythe, grim faced and carrying a golden globe in his hand.
Normally this is not someone I would warm to. And yet, what made him so endearing was that he held in his hand a balloon creature, sort of like a Muppet, green with bulging eyes, a little purple speedo bottom and rippling green muscles across his chest and abdomen much like I imagined this man would have. The Muppet was about two feet tall and was clutched in this man's hand. He seemed to be staring into his face intently, his bulging white eyes inches from his. Except for silently meditating on this creature for a few seconds however, the man’s attention was elsewhere. He was attentively watching his young wife who was lovely, very petite, and his young son, both of whom were standing at the front of the ferry watching the ships and sailboats and the approaching shoreline of Dartmouth.
The man was left in charge of the balloon creature and their blue and white striped beach bag, something you would see out of a boutique say in Greenwich, Connecticut or in the Hamptons, J. Crew. And so he sat there being watched by this Muppet as he watched his family, his attention never wavering until we reached the safe haven of the opposite shore.
As seems to be the norm, his arms were covered with tattoos, skulls, dragons twisting around brawny arms. On his right leg he had another tattoo of “Death” with a scythe, grim faced and carrying a golden globe in his hand.
Normally this is not someone I would warm to. And yet, what made him so endearing was that he held in his hand a balloon creature, sort of like a Muppet, green with bulging eyes, a little purple speedo bottom and rippling green muscles across his chest and abdomen much like I imagined this man would have. The Muppet was about two feet tall and was clutched in this man's hand. He seemed to be staring into his face intently, his bulging white eyes inches from his. Except for silently meditating on this creature for a few seconds however, the man’s attention was elsewhere. He was attentively watching his young wife who was lovely, very petite, and his young son, both of whom were standing at the front of the ferry watching the ships and sailboats and the approaching shoreline of Dartmouth.
The man was left in charge of the balloon creature and their blue and white striped beach bag, something you would see out of a boutique say in Greenwich, Connecticut or in the Hamptons, J. Crew. And so he sat there being watched by this Muppet as he watched his family, his attention never wavering until we reached the safe haven of the opposite shore.