Thanksgiving, but one vendor is hard at work.
On Thanksgiving Day, people were milling about, mostly entering or leaving restaurants but some were just getting a good walk in on that food-focused holiday. I wandered past the Downtown Holiday Market on my way to the national mall and noticed that everything was locked up – or so it seemed.
One sole booth was opened and a man, wearing a thick flannel shirt and jeans, was inside moving around. He occupied an end booth, so I could get fairly close. I watched him moving things around inside his booth for a minute, his back to the world.
"Hey! Today's a holiday and you're working?" (I had to yell a bit to be heard.)
He turned around. "This is a perfect day to rearrange the booth." Then he paused. "I'm from Boston and I don't know anyone here so I might as well do this work now."
"Boston? You'll have to prove that. Let me hear your accent!"
He then went into what I can only call a Boston Rant to which I belly-laughed. I only wish I had written down what he said. Come to think of it, I'm not so sure I recognized all of the words anyway!
We then shared a few pleasantries and he encouraged me to return when the booth was open because he had the best hot chocolate in the world and, he added, "I'm not even kidding." (That made me smile.) Then I said I had to get going and he thanked me for stopping to talk with him for a while, that he really appreciated it.
Even though I walk by the market almost every day, there always seems to be a reason for me to not stop, to not try the best hot chocolate in the world. Maybe the brief exchange that we had on Thanksgiving Day was enough, perfect actually. Talking to someone who was alone on a holiday made my day and likely his, too. That's pretty good stuff to end with.