We set out for the walk because she said ‘Go Miscellany’ ‘Happy New Year Zainab’. It was time to leave the house and connect with some people, and away we went. Before we even left the block, we had a greeting from a neighbour, a brief exchange before we carried on. I told C we would be stopping at the bank machine to make a deposit. ‘Make a deposit here’ she said as we passed the pharmacy. ‘No, we don’t make the deposit here, we make it at Vancity.’ ‘Make a deposit here’ she said, as we passed Red Wagon Cafe. ‘No C, that’s not a bank, that’s a restaurant! We have to keep walking!’. She flashed her big smile and we continued on. In the vestibule I heard someone say ‘Hi Charlotte!’ and turned to see a woman I didn’t recognize greeting her. This is a common occurrence for us, and typically I have to awkwardly inquire as to how the person might know my girl. In this case she introduced herself as a peer’s mom, and I had a brief moment to introduce myself before C said ‘Gotta go Miscellany, bye bye!’ which led to our swift departure.
She entered Miscellany with a clear greeting of ‘Happy New Year Zainab!’. So clear that it didn’t require any interpretation on my part, and Zainab returned the greeting cheerfully. C picked out a book without really looking at it because the last couple of times we have visited Zainab’s store we have bought books, and for my habit-loving girl, it means that’s what we will do forever more. I gave C the money and she placed it on the cash register. ‘How was your break?’ I asked, and Zainab said ‘Too short!’, before C was headed for the door and we kept walking. ‘Toodle-oo Zainab!’ she shouted as we exited.
At the Learnary, C entered with a flourish, announcing ‘I just looking no buy it!’, which I repeated so that Surya could understand the words that often come out unintelligibly, sometimes rudely. My hopes in repeating them are always two-fold – to soften the rudeness and state for the record that the words are knowingly unintelligible but I will do my best to interpret, should you need my help. Surya asked if C would like to see the toys in the back, and C said ‘Maybe later’. She asked us to provide our opinion on the new storefront window, which she had just arranged. ‘I’m wondering if there aren’t enough raindrops’, she said and then we both chuckled about the idea of not enough raindrops in our notoriously rainy city. As we stepped out and walked past the window I gave her two thumbs up (a perfect number of raindrops!) and we continued on our way.
Past the dentist, past Baaaad Anna’s, closed and open, respectively but ‘No go in just walk past’. I noticed that the library looked open, which captured C’s attention so we crossed Hastings and went inside. ‘Hi Charlotte!!’ we heard, this time from a boy we know well. ‘Happy New Year’, C said, unprompted, and her polite greeting was returned. Some wandering and shushing later, I noticed a choreographer I admire packing up her things and getting ready to leave. I considered saying hi and telling her I’m a big fan, but C had other plans so we watched her pass by the window from inside instead.
After setting the timer for two minutes we were able to depart from the library, with a promise of chasing down the friend who had left earlier. ‘He’s too far ahead, I don’t think we can catch up!’ I said. ‘Too far!’ she said, with disappointment in her voice. I moved her along – ‘Let’s pass HSBC, and look what’s this? A clinic!’. Distraction with more locations to observe is a well-developed strategy to keep the peace, and luckily easy to do on Hastings Street.
‘Hello! Ni Hao! Long time no see!’, a friendly greeting from a grandma we see frequently at school pick-up time. ‘Hello! Back to school tomorrow!’ I said, as I helped C keep going, despite her inclination to wait at the bus stop for the next city bus that might come along and take her to the PNE. ‘Donald’s go in. Too busy. Walk through.’, she said. ‘Okay, we can walk through Donald’s but we don’t need anything so we’ll just keep going.’ But then, ‘Stay here!’ she shouted through the aisles, her classic about-face that can lead us to the well-worn public spectacle of a parent-child stand-off. Today there was the blessing of her easy acquiescence and away we went, after quickly saying hello to Carmen, everybody’s favourite cashier. Then another quick seat at a bus stop, a foiled attempt to enter MAMA’s used furniture store and an inattentive stomp through a muddy puddle and we were almost home.
Today’s Hastings-Sunrise walk tally:
Greetings from familiar faces: 6
Smiles of delight: innumerable
Tears: a few (hers)
Love for the neighbourhood: immeasurable
