Sprung

I’m walking down a neighborhood sidewalk today and it is the most beautiful day of the year, mostly because there are hummingbirds. Spring. I’m still comatose when I wake up at New 7am, but this extra hour of night light will save my life. It’s nearly 8:00 at night now and the streets are still clogged with children, launching themselves and every available wheeley cart off ramps made of plywood and cinder blocks. They’re hitting each other with sticks, stealing each other’s batman mobile and dropping snacks all over the lawn. Their screams and taunts are the most wonderful thing I have heard since The Arcade Fire marched off stage and played two songs at midnight while standing in city traffic. That was last Fall. Canadians.

April Fools Day came and went without incident, which was pretty disappointing considering I regularly keep the company of drunks and children, though never at once. Maybe that’s the problem. I’m not holding it inside though because there’s too much to live for right now and I’m not just talking about those pot brownies you’re going to make for the Zoo Concert Series. There’s going to be more than that, swimming, street fairs and the backyard barbecues of near strangers. Cut grass. Uh oh, don’t forget the body odor.

I forgot about it, before I decided that today was the most beautiful day of the year. I exploded out of my office at 5:02 and danced on the curb until the next bus came. The doors swung open and a haggard looking man stumbled down the stairs towards me while the bus driver finished his sentence, “oh wow, ok pal!” I started up past him and the first odor wave from his rumpled body struck me lightly, like brushing by your handsome friend when he’s just finished soccer. Easy. I stepped into the aisle of the bus and was instantly suffocated by the second wave of the same haggard man, a smell that I can only describe as terribly old cheese in a hospital. It was remarkable.

He was blocks away by now but his smell lingered with us. No, not so much lingered as reclined and took a nap. Old women were gasping and clutching at their chests. They shouted “hoo hoo!” and “woo!” and one woman even said “hoo hoo woo!” A kid stuck most of his torso out of an open window and the bus driver said nothing because he wanted the same. A man with glasses and a fleece vest made a gagging face followed by a barfing face and the woman across from him coughed. I could only begin to comprehend what these people had just been through together, but it was clear that they had well earned this most beautiful day of the year. I would too, with the first heavy hobo sweat of 2006. Winter has a way of dampening those smells, or at least containing them under layers of old coats and Hefty bags, but that’s all it’s helpful for really. Especially since I got bored with skiing.