Gomer Pyle – part 2
Prostitutes. I’d like to think of myself as worldly, but in the end, I’m still more Midwestern boy than anything else. Pretty much, I’d figure on bumping into, and starting a conversation with, a Cuban ex-national than I would a prostitute. The “bumping into” appears to be a natural part of visiting Bourbon Street in New Orleans – though the tourist board doesn’t seem to point this out. Kind of like “Paint Your Wagon” doesn’t appear on Clint Eastwood’s filmography (if you don’t understand the reference, then look it up – you *are* on the Internet for Pete’s sake). The conversational part – well, that’s just a part of Midwestern politeness. My brother (he does get dragged into a lot of stories lately) and I were walking up and down Bourbon Street birdwatching and we ran into a “nice lady” who seemed to us as friendly as anyone else. She asked where we were from and some other small talk questions before subtly stating her real agenda (we’re Midwestern, not stupid!). We politely declined (“F-off” would have been rude, I’m sure she is still somebody’s daughter) and moved on. We passed her by again later without incident. Later yet, we saw her again from across the street and she and I waved at about the same time – most likely for different reasons, but hey, I saw “Pretty Woman” and she could have just been being polite like us. So, we walked across the street and the conversation went something like this…
Me: “Any luck?”
Her: “Nope.”
Me: “I’m surprised!”
Her: “Yeah, me too. Doing okay?”
Me: “Yeah, still sight-seeing.”
Her: “Change your mind yet?”
Me (and brother at same time – you forgot he was still here, didn’t you?): “No.”
Her: “Cool… Well you guys have a good night.”
Me: “Thanks, you too.”
I didn’t think about it until later but we probably could have been arrested for soliciting even though we weren’t doing anything you wouldn’t do with a Wal-Mart check-out person (and if you’ve visited Walmarts in the Midwest then you *know* we weren’t soliciting). It would have been embarrassing to get arrested for saying hello but on the plus side, we would have been Midwest trailer park heroes if we made it onto “Cops”.