By Rebecca Yeung
Fall 2013 Kaplan Award Winner
My new roommate this year grew up in the east side of the state, and this was her first year in Seattle. I decided to take her out and explore downtown Seattle. I am not a Seattle native, but have been living here for a few years. I knew downtown could be scary and dangerous when it got dark, so I told my roommate and her boyfriend we needed to leave in the early afternoon. We bussed down because car parking was expensive.
They wanted to walk around the Pike Place Market and visit the first Starbucks there. After getting a coffee, I asked if they had heard about the gum wall. Neither of them had any idea what I was talking about. So I gave each of them a piece of gum, and took them down the little sidewalk next to the Pike Place Market. We walked past some tourists that were trying to take pictures of the Pike Place Market’s unofficial mascot, a bronze pig. Then we walked down the stairs. The gum wall was round the corner next to the Market Theater.
My roommate and her boyfriend were both amazed by the amount of chewing gum stuck onto the wall and the creatures that people made with their gum. They walked around and took pictures, made a heart shape with a piece of their gum and stuck it on the wall. It grossed me out and I started to regret taking them there because now they tried to take the typical-couple-kissing pictures in front of me. Just right when I finished helping them take a picture, a black woman approached and asked me what time it was.
She was wearing a cotton grey jacket that had holes on the sleeves, a pair of sweatpants and a pair of worn sandals. She looked like she was in good spirits, even though her hair was a little messy.
“It’s 2:30,” I said.
“Thanks,” she replied. After a second of silence, she said, “You know, you are one of the nicest people I know.”
I thought to myself, really? It’s still early for homeless and weird people, why am I so unlucky? So I smiled and was ready to walk away. But she talked again.
“Everyone thinks I’m weird and won’t talk to me. You are the only one that responded.”
I was a little scared and just wanted to get away. “Oh, really?” I did not know what to say.
“I can see that you are not from here, huh? I’ve talked to a lot of people, they always just walk away. But you’re different. You’re really smart.” She kept on talking and wouldn’t let me go.
I looked around and see if anyone could bail me out from the situation. But apparently everyone was trying to avoid any contact with this lady.
“You’re really smart,” she repeated, “God has a plan for you and you’ll save a lot of souls.”
Now this was getting complicated and confusing. I looked at my roommate; we both did not know what to do. I wanted to tell her I needed to go but there she was, her mouth working again. This time she started talking about herself. She told me how she got kicked out of her house, made mistakes, did drugs and got into jail. Then she started singing in the bars and became famous. A lot of people went there and listened to her sing.
“Let me sing something,” she suddenly got excited, “But I took my teeth out. I’ll get them tomorrow.” She sang a few sentences and I had absolutely no idea what she sang. Her voice, however, reminded me of the UK singer, Adele Adkins. Impressive, I thought. Maybe she was not making things up the whole time.
“Thanks,” I said, “but look, it’s getting late, I really have to go.”
“Thank you. You are one of the smartest people I’ve seen. I have this talent from God, I can see your future, you will save a lot of souls.”
“Well, that was awkward,” I said, as I walked away with my roommate and her boyfriend. “Now you know why I don’t want to go to downtown at night.”
“Maybe she thought you were attractive,” my roommate joked.
“Maybe.” I did not think it was funny.
Or, maybe she just needed someone to talk to.
We were all quiet as we walked up the slope to the center of downtown. I wondered how much that lady told me was true about herself. How did she become famous in a bar and yet dressed dirty? Did she go around and tell people they are smart all the time? What did she mean by saving souls? I honestly did not care about any of these answers. But maybe, she really just needed someone to talk to.
I felt like I did a good thing.