IĀ ended up in Miami to meet a new friend, Keren. I was told she had an autistic four year old son and just to expect that. I didnāt mind, of course, Iāve dealt with plenty enough children and special needs people to know how to behave around them comfortably.
Miami wasā¦ exactly how I thought itād beā¦ It was big, city-like, sunny, boiling hot, and there was loud Cuban music playing everywhere. I donāt mean there was loud music playing out of clubs and whatnotā¦ I mean you could hear peopleās cars a mile or more down the block and private residences? She had the misfortune to have a neighbor who cranked his music so loud that we could not hear each other talk. We were literally yelling at each other at the top of our voices, āHI! SORRY ABOUT THE NEIGHBORS! THEYāRE A BIT OBNOXIOUS!ā
Keren was a funny woman, vibrantly opinionated, full of piss and vinegar. Her son was sweet and took a liking to me. He chatted up a storm and I played games with him and exchanged corny little knock knock jokes. We ate pizza and stayed up into the wee morning hours talking to her father, a rabbi, telling us about the state of Israel, which was oddly enlightening to a gentile such as myself.
I think Keren was just as amused byĀ me asĀ I wasĀ of her. She kept callingĀ me adorable and polite becauseĀ I waited to be invited to sit at her dinner table. She says Miami is full of brash mannerless people and I was justā¦ different.Ā I slept over at her house and took the most amazing hot shower there beforeĀ I left. I’m a bit embarrassed to say it was the first shower I had taken since I left and I was getting tired of the baby wipe sponge baths andĀ my hair being soĀ greasy I could hear my brush squicking through it.Ā In the morning she fedĀ me grits. Iād yet to get around to trying any southern foods so this was actually something I wasĀ up for. They were awesome! Buttery and delicious and I just donāt know why I havenāt had them beforeā¦ Iām so getting some whenĀ I go home.Ā I left a half a bag of Sāmore marshmallows, apparently something they donāt sell down there. āWhy are these marshmallows so huge?!ā Funny how much discussion those marshmallows have been givingĀ me lately.
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