Hmm, that was mildly interesting. I spotted this older guy who I’ve seen puttering around Astoria for years. I think I first noticed him at Veronica’s. He has a distinctive look. A good head of hair and a fat bushy mustache for someone who looks like he might be over 70.
So I followed him for a little bit. I used to do this once in a while — follow strangers for a few blocks just to get a glimpse into the life of another human being. I have not done this in a long time, I don’t think. Today’s little episode ended with me finding a piece of Astoria I had never seen.
I spotted him at Northern Bulevard and 49th. He was carrying 2 bags from the Stop & Shop. All I could make out was a couple of 2-liter bottles of Sunkist, but there were other items in the bags. He walked slowly, such that I almost gave up on following him. I got strangely close to him as I could not seem to help from walking at my normal pace. He was unquestionably oblivious to my presence.
I followed him down a stretch of road between the Best Buy parking lot and a row of businesses. That road I am familiar with. It was the stretch of 49th Street between Bryant and the Woodside Houses that I’d never seen.
Either this old guy lives in the Woodside Houses or he was delivering Sunkist beverages to someone he knows there. Not to generalize but I tend not to think of white guys with blond hair as living in projects. I did not see which building he entered but it looked like the first one on the right.
So when he disappeared into the Woodside Houses I noticed that there was a sign on Broadway which said 49th Street, but there was no 49th Street. There was just a sidewalk that ran between Bryant and the projects. 49th Street actually starts 30 or 40 feet ahead. From the sidewalk I saw a giant BRYANT LADY OWLS sign which I’d never seen before, and I then found that stretch of 49th Street promised by the sign on Broadway.
Details details. I was actually hoping this mysterious road was the elusive 40th Street, which for some reason does not exist in AsLIC. It would be out of sequence, of course, but that would enhance the profound mystery which characterizes 40th Street’s vanishment.
I see the old guy here, too. At the LIBARRY. I saw him here this week. He gets around. Oh wow, just as I was typing those words that old guy just walked in to this very library…. We made lengthy eye contact. He looks like a nice guy, if a passing stare-off like the one we just experienced opens any kind of window into the soul of a stranger. It’s possible he recognizes me as well. I get around a lot, too. Hah. Maybe I’ll go follow him again.
