owl in the park

it was last summer, around 5am. lucas and i were thinking of wrapping up an unexpected all-nighter as we sat on a bench in Washington Square Park. a stranger with a giant pizza box noticed lucas playing me some tunes on his guitar and began to negotiate an exchange. the ragged-looking stranger asked, "hey can i play your guitar?" no answer, as lucas seemed to be cotemplating how to refuse. then the stranger pointed to the large pizza box and said "just one song, and you can have a slice." how could lucas refuse? so he passed the guitar and grabbed a slice from the enormous box. apparently a local pizza joint offered this pizza to our new friend. in turn, our new friend offered slices to us and any of the other wanderers passing by. we sat and listened to the bizarre but not completely unpleasant tunes of this young man who introduced himself as "Owl." apparently Owl's own guitar was stolen, which meant that he had also lost his source of income since he was unable to perform in the parks and on subway platforms. he continued to sing his songs of drugs, fascination with drugs, love of drugs. in one song, he literally listed every drug i'd ever heard of. and more. at one point he stopped and asked us for a dollar. because he needed a beer. and he meant need. he was visibly going through painful withdrawal. we gave him the money. he re-appeared 5 minutes later with a cup of beer. good to know you can still get that at 5am on a weekday. he began playing again, literally having to stop for sips of beer to calm his shakes. and confessed "you see? i can't not have it." we sat there for a little while listening to Owl sing for us. as lucas took another turn, Owl shared stories of his troubled times. yet he seemed almost hopeful and relatively content with his life of living in the parks. he claimed to spend most of his time in Tompkins Square Park in the east village. and it turned out, because of this, he and lucas had some friends in common. this is one of the many times that exemplified how lucas never ceases to amaze me.

after an hour or so, we wished Owl well and left him in the park. with his cup of almost-gone beer. with his giant box of almost-gone pizza. the sun had almost completely risen.

i didn't see Owl again.

until about 3 months later. it was morning, and i was taking my usual route to work. as i cut through Washington Square Park, who did i see in a patch of grass? Owl was just waking up. and i exhaled a sigh of relief.

2 months after that, i was coming home from work - again cutting through the park - and i heard a familiar song coming from one of the many park performers. i turned to listen. and saw Owl playing a guitar and singing his songs. and i smiled.