ANGELS AMONG US
"SAUGERTIES PERFORMANCE ARTIST RUN OVER IN MANHATTAN BY A SCHOOL BUS", it would have said?
She was in NYC to meet with her murdered ex-husband's brother; not a situation without memory or future lucid dream consequences for sure. To use the time well, she made it a multi-purpose day and the first half had been syncronistic, especially the sighting of six Mother Theresa Sisters at Padre Pio's church. She studied ever so closely their saris and the folds in the front and how they were draped over their shoulders and reminded herself to go to you tube immediately when she got home and re-learn how to drape a Bengali sari since she would be needing that expertise soon for her next Mother Theresa appearance. One of the nuns was definitely the boss, borrowing a cell phone to call somebody, maybe a friend with a car, a taxi??? The thought that they take vows of: poverty, chastity and obedience was obvious. It was so outrageous! How could they live and function without even a simple cell phone/internet? Didn't they want to run home and see who posted what they ate for lunch on their Facebook page?
But that was what Mother Teresa's Sister did..they only lived for prayer and for service, with nothing, not even a phone as a pleasure. They were 2-sari women, an unimaginable simplicity.
She puppy-dogged them out of the church after Mass, wanting to ask for a,"How do you drape your sari, Sister?" lesson but luckily something stopped her. At their car, she connected with one of the sweet, tiny, Indian nuns who, when she said, "I perform as Mother Theresa " (and then had the hutzpah to demo by stooping over and play-act the Saint herself) smiled and "approved" of her present, past and soon to be future performances of Mother Teresa. Inside bad-voice said,"Is she smiling approval? Shut up ,Linda. Everything's ok take this as a seal, a high-five, a signed contract." Then, to quiet another quickly appeared and legalistic attack of hubrised guilt she mentioned that she had gotten approval from "the sisters in the Bronx" who, " ...gave me permission to re-enact Mother Teresa". Another smile. She was flying high. But to continue the contact and her hard won endorphins, she asked, "Did you just come from India?" This deliberate distraction from her anxiety and racist-rudeness did not obliterate this sweet woman's loving kindness and she said, "No, I have been in Harlem for two years." Smile.... hers, not mine, then their exit into the car. Their car? No, wait not theirs, they only own 2 saris. She almost waved good-bye to the tail-lights, she was that high.
The other angel story is coming but before that there were visits to galleries and checking with Printed Matter to see when they would cut a check for things that had sold and on her way back to the Port Of Authority where she would meet her murdered ex-husband's brother next to the Jackie Gleason statue, it happened.
She had practiced the how-to-be-careful in NY scenario before she came because hours of Fox and CNN and NBC news reporters had media blitzed bloody images of cars careening into New Yorkers into her mental archive; images that led not to carefulness but to total upstate NY country girl trust that "I know how to cross a NYC street, dammit". She didn't, because the big white parked truck to her left, obscured the speeding, big, huge, yellow, school van and if she had taken that next step, her certain death would have been announced in the Kingston Freeman the next day:
But that was what Mother Teresa's Sister did..they only lived for prayer and for service, with nothing, not even a phone as a pleasure. They were 2-sari women, an unimaginable simplicity.
She puppy-dogged them out of the church after Mass, wanting to ask for a,"How do you drape your sari, Sister?" lesson but luckily something stopped her. At their car, she connected with one of the sweet, tiny, Indian nuns who, when she said, "I perform as Mother Theresa " (and then had the hutzpah to demo by stooping over and play-act the Saint herself) smiled and "approved" of her present, past and soon to be future performances of Mother Teresa. Inside bad-voice said,"Is she smiling approval? Shut up ,Linda. Everything's ok take this as a seal, a high-five, a signed contract." Then, to quiet another quickly appeared and legalistic attack of hubrised guilt she mentioned that she had gotten approval from "the sisters in the Bronx" who, " ...gave me permission to re-enact Mother Teresa". Another smile. She was flying high. But to continue the contact and her hard won endorphins, she asked, "Did you just come from India?" This deliberate distraction from her anxiety and racist-rudeness did not obliterate this sweet woman's loving kindness and she said, "No, I have been in Harlem for two years." Smile.... hers, not mine, then their exit into the car. Their car? No, wait not theirs, they only own 2 saris. She almost waved good-bye to the tail-lights, she was that high.
The other angel story is coming but before that there were visits to galleries and checking with Printed Matter to see when they would cut a check for things that had sold and on her way back to the Port Of Authority where she would meet her murdered ex-husband's brother next to the Jackie Gleason statue, it happened.
She had practiced the how-to-be-careful in NY scenario before she came because hours of Fox and CNN and NBC news reporters had media blitzed bloody images of cars careening into New Yorkers into her mental archive; images that led not to carefulness but to total upstate NY country girl trust that "I know how to cross a NYC street, dammit". She didn't, because the big white parked truck to her left, obscured the speeding, big, huge, yellow, school van and if she had taken that next step, her certain death would have been announced in the Kingston Freeman the next day:
"SAUGERTIES PERFORMANCE ARTIST RUN OVER IN MANHATTAN BY A SCHOOL BUS", it would have said?
Or, better yet, " PERFORMANCE ARTIST WAS NOT RUN OVER BY A SCHOOL BUS IN MANHATTAN. INSTEAD, SHE CROSSED THE STREET AND NOTICED THAT THE FIRST BUILDING SHE SAW WAS : THE CATHOLIC CHURCH OF THE ANGELS."
Linda Mary Montano, June 2014
Linda Mary Montano, June 2014
No comments:
Post a Comment