A man in his late 50s sat outside a large white brick apartment building in his beaten down black Ford pickup truck taking long pensive drags of his cigarette looking perfectly comfortable behind the wheel. The truck wasn’t running, but was double parked, with the driver’s side door partially open and his leg casually hanging out. He had Levi’s jeans on that looked worn and unwashed, and he was wearing his signature black leather moccasin slippers in place of shoes.
A harried blonde intellectual frantically emerged from the building, twisting his hair in one hand and holding a small lamp in the other, generally looking exhausted and confused.
The man in the truck looked up, indifferent to the panic on the younger man’s face, and casually blew out his cigarette smoke.
“Wow, New York really is wild isn’t it? God, look at all these people. I could sit here all day.”
“Yeah. It is the city” the blonde man responded absently.
The older man in the truck paid the comment no mind, and continued as if nothing had been said,
“I can’t believe how nutty everyone is. You really have to be tough here. Like heartless. Wow. I just saw a lady’s dog poop right over there” he flicked his cigarette in a direction down the street “and she just praised the hell out of the dog and walked away, leaving the shit right there.” He shook his head. “Jeez, New York.”
The blonde man awkwardly placed the lamp in the bed of the truck, next to the few bookcases and an IKEA chair, and turned around to go back inside.
A minute or so later, a girl came out the same door, looking affectionately at the man sitting in the truck. He continued as if no interruption had been made.
“You really have to be tough in this city, huh? Maybe you should get a dog.”
Cat Owner Living Abroad 