{"id":86323,"date":"2015-06-03T15:42:41","date_gmt":"2015-06-03T19:42:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=86323"},"modified":"2015-06-03T16:49:22","modified_gmt":"2015-06-03T20:49:22","slug":"recurring-characters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/06\/03\/recurring-characters\/","title":{"rendered":"Recurring Characters"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Okyo_Peacock_and_Peahen\"<\/a>

Maruyama \u014ckyo, Peacock and Peahen<\/i>, 1781.<\/p><\/div>\n

I was settled with my papers, my coffee, and a cheese Danish at a bench on a Manhattan traffic island when someone sat down next to me. I glanced up and recognized a now-familiar face. It was the same elderly man I\u2019d first seen in a local supermarket<\/a>, berating a clerk; last week, I\u2019d encountered him again on Amsterdam Avenue and attempted to buy him a pineapple<\/a>. He was ubiquitous\u2014or I was. I gave him a cautious nod of greeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cHello,\u201d he said, smiling warmly. \u201cIt\u2019s a beautiful day!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d I agreed. He didn\u2019t seem to recognize me. <\/p>\n

We sat in silence for some time; I noticed he was glancing furtively at the front section of the newspaper, so I handed it to him. \u201cI\u2019ve finished, if you\u2019d like it,\u201d I said. \u201cI just want to keep the crossword for later.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s very kind of you!\u201d he said. \u201cAre you sure? It does look interesting today.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, there are some very interesting stories,\u201d I agreed. \u201cI recommend this piece on Russian Internet trolls<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you!\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ll read it! I was thinking that I would buy my own, and now I don\u2019t have to!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s my pleasure!\u201d I said.<\/p>\n

We read.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sorry to interrupt, miss,\u201d he said. \u201cBut may I ask if you are a writer?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am!\u201d I said. \u201cHow did you know?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have a very observant air,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd your glasses make you look bookish! Also I write a bit myself. Do you like the work of Flannery O\u2019Connor?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cVery much,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMe too. I ask because they have a peacock at the bird center right now, and I visited it this morning. And of course, that made me think of Flannery O\u2019Connor\u2019s peacocks.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand descendants of her flock still roam the grounds of her home in Georgia,\u201d I said. \u201cI\u2019d love to visit the one at the bird center, although I believe they can be quite aggressive.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, this one loves to eat plants! Someone visited carrying a house plant she\u2019d just bought, and he attacked it!\u201d<\/p>\n

This went on for the better part of an hour. We discussed the neighborhood\u2019s bookstores, the free summer program the Salvation Army runs for seniors, Caitlyn Jenner, and whether chimpanzees could indeed cook, given the chance. He was one of the nicest people I\u2019ve ever met.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been lovely talking with such a kind young lady,\u201d he said. \u201cPerhaps I will put you in a story!\u201d And then, at last, I learned his name: Jacob. We were headed to a jovial new stage in our acquaintanceship, I thought, until I told him my name.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat? Fagin?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

I repeated it.<\/p>\n

Sadie Stein is contributing editor of <\/em>The Paris Review, and the <\/em>Daily\u2019s correspondent.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was settled with my papers, my coffee, and a cheese Danish at a bench on a Manhattan traffic island when someone sat down next to me. I glanced up and recognized a now-familiar face. It was the same elderly man I\u2019d first seen in a local supermarket, berating a clerk; last week, I\u2019d encountered […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":178,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13115],"tags":[18350,12511,158,18237,18235,53,18351,347],"class_list":["post-86323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-our-daily-correspondent","tag-benches","tag-city-life","tag-encounters","tag-old-men","tag-pineapple","tag-reading","tag-recurring-characters","tag-upper-west-side"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Return of the Old Man from the Upper West Side<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sadie Stein\u2019s third encounter with a man quickly becoming a neighborhood legend.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/06\/03\/recurring-characters\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Recurring Characters by Sadie Stein\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"June 3, 2015 \u2013 I was settled with my papers, my coffee, and a cheese Danish at a bench on a Manhattan traffic island when someone sat down next to me. 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