Orange Ave. and Pine St. in
Orlando is my favorite place to sit.
It’s a cigar store and bar with
super comfy wide rocking chairs.
Women in cocktail dresses overcharging
one, but the smoke is like holy
incense, so being fleeced is acceptable.

I did ask for a Jack and Ginger.
Perhaps I looked more gentlemanly than
I thought. That would explain the green
label: more expensive whiskey.

People watching is the best there. The
confluence of brackish and fresh
scrubbed slam into prophets and
hawkers of enlightenment through many
mediums.

The homeless beg, the street preachers beg,
the ersatz fashionistas beg, the lonely beg,
the starved artists and musicians beg, for
money, sex, souls, recognition, escape, etc.
It’s all the same. Each one in their
costumed role said, “Please, make it stop!
The suffering is too much,” and so on.
You’ve probably seen such a thing if
you’ve looked. It exists everywhere.