Day 3: Wondering about the man from Montreal.

 Last night I sat on a hotel patio down by the lake with my friends researching the habits of humans. What I mean to say is that since the band was too loud for us to converse I spent my time watching people. I watched an older woman with gray hair waving her jazz hands and claw-like fingernails to the beat of every song as though she was trying to cast a spell on one of the guitar players. I watched the sax player and listened to his fingers when his mic failed. I watched a family parade from one end of the patio to the other, bopping with babies secured to their abdomens. And I wondered about the man whose table we appropriated. The man from Montreal who was passing through. He had left half a bottle of beer to guard his table while he stood to the side of the patio smoking. His wife was sick and sleeping upstairs and he had come down to hear some music and have a few drinks. The first thing I noticed was his big head. Then I noticed his big toes. It made me think about genetics and I wondered what his children looked like. If he had a son was he large like his father? I imagined his wife a petite french woman with black hair. I don't know why. It just seemed right.

I wondered what this man thought of us. Two women first, sitting at his lonely table. Slowly more women joined our party until he was surrounded. The look on his face told me he was a gentleman.
I wondered if he was worried about his wife looking down on us. What would she think? Anything?
The man was jovial. He spoke to us English as a Second Language teachers in broken English. We spoke back in our best broken French.  He stayed for two more beers, and at least five more smoke breaks before bidding us adieu.
We stayed on watching the fireworks over the fort and watching the great orange moon rise over the river.
I can use my imagination and build this man up to a fantastic character, or I can reduce his likeness to a mere passerby in the book that I am currently not writing. (Too busy drinking on the waterfront patios).More than anything though, I can wonder what it was that brought us to his table and too what degree will my wondering procure the meaning in our meeting?