Rat & Roach Poison

When I got to the terminal of the ferry to Staten Island, the guard with the bomb sniffing dog greeted me: “Saw Lady!”
Two men on a tall dolley were fixing the big running sign above the entrance to the terminal. It had numbers from 1 to 9 all along.
As I was setting up my busking gear I looked for the head sanitation guy. I haven’t seen him in my two previous busking gigs here, and I was beginning to worry about him.
As I started to play – he showed up. Turns out he was on a two week vacation. He was supposed to have a vacation in August, but his boss forced him to take it at a different time, resulting in that he couldn’t go visit his country (former Yugoslavia) as he had hoped to. His brother was disappointed because he hoped his brother would be there for a big party.
“What did you do on your vacation?”, I asked.
“I slept all day and gained weight”, he said.

Photographer: Jose Polanco

The video screen next to the Music Under New York busking spot has been fixed, so now there is the annoying noise of the commercials I have to compete with when playing my music…

At 3:20 the advertising strip above the entrance was fixed and back to normal function, announcing the time, advertising apartments and other Staten Island affairs.

A French musical saw player from Paris came to say ‘hi’. His main instrument is the theremin and he is here in New York for a theremin concert at Lake George.

A girl looked at the Musical Saw Festival poster hanging on the pole behind me and asked me “where’s the dress?”

It was very cold in the terminal. I mentioned it to the sanitation guy. He told me that last week it was even colder and he got a cold from working in this AC.

At 6pm I played “New York, New York” to close the day.
As I was packing up my busking gear, one of the sanitation workers came by and said my name. He told me that it was also his grandmother’s name. When she came from Africa to Cuba the people in the village gave her this name.

A man sitting by the escalator told me twice that he wasn’t homeless. He wanted to write down for me some radio programs he thought I might enjoy. He told me about his childhood with his grandparents – how he used to hide on Sunday mornings so he wouldn’t have to go to church and how his grandfather beat him with a belt when he got caught. He also told me that he invented a rat & roach poison and that his friend told him he needs a patent lawyer for it.

Outside the ferry terminal building a man was sitting on the floor with a white rat on his head. By him was a sign saying: “I need help. Any change is appreciated”.