Body Mind Spirit 'Buddy Burger'

     Sunday, September 8th 2013.  I made my way to the annual "Mind Body Spirit Celebration Fair", a market full of "holistic" items and services: tarot, healing crystals, prayer flags, UFO books...  On my way to catch a bus out of downtown, I stepped off a train to discover that the pedestrian mall shuttles were suspended on the northwest side, due to yet another marathon.  Young drifters who appeared decked out as their own personal concept of 'the drifter' were just rising, along with some actual homeless.  Among this smattering of residents on a downtown's day off, I am passed by a beautiful young woman in a white knit skirt and halter.  She is relating a story to a male companion, perhaps about a previous evening's encounter.  She is telling him about some guy who was at some point, whispering to her, "Come here.  Come here.  Let's fuck.  Come here."
     An hour later, and I am some forty blocks to the north.  I am off the bus and walking to the festival with a woman who tells me that she has been called into work the concessions for the event.  The parking lot is filled to capacity.  The lady tells me, "Everyone wants a reading, their palm read.  They want to know their future."

Saturday Noon  Room 2
     ...the spiritual essence of the horse lives in every one of us.  Horses greet us as multi-dimensional healers...
Readers
     ...a Crystal Resonance Therapist (CRTh) certified by...co-author of "The Book of Stones."  Intuitive readings...are always angelically guided...  Higher self clairvoyant empathy.  ...spontaneous oversoul merge...  ...has channelled Marstuthnick...  Marstuthnick, or Nick for short, has never incarnated.  ...a visionary Master Palmist...has documented over 50,570 palms, with an accuracy rate of 90-95%.  ...a "Medium at Large" comes from a family of women who hear voices.  ...specialty readings such as Flow Readings (multiple past lives); Crossings (between 2 people) and Health Readings.  - Celebration Fair program

     After the festival, I had an hour before the bus home showed up.  At the bus stop, a kid came up to ask me if I had three dollars for he and his two cousins to get home.  I'm in a neighborhood of grade school hustlers.  He rejoins his cousins as I watch some guy give them money.  They should have instead called these boys in to feed the hungry metaphysical diners.  With an hour to kill, I step into the Red Roster Diner next to the bus stop.  I begin to read my festival program, but quickly find that listening to the cook call out orders (such as the rooster burger) is much more interesting.  I already like this place.  A waitress picks up a plate from the kitchen, with a huge burger and a mound of fries.  She tells the cook, "The buddy burger doesn't come with fries."  I finish my snack and head out, taking a look around at the other shops in this small center.  From a liquor store, I watch a homeless guy come out of a liquor store with a tall can of beer in his hand.  His backpack and sleeping bang are on the ground.