Triangular Square

Tonight I sat down in a little triangular square (as odd as it may be) in the corner of Bleeker St. and 6^th Ave. Here I was nibbling on a bagel when I noticed two women in the bench in front of me that were looking at my shoes and saying “¡qué lindo!” (which means “how cute!” if you are Spanish impaired)… and please don’t act surprised about Spanish being spoken in New York.

Although I am always open and welcoming to praise, I really thought that something was odd because I am wearing a pair of old destroyed-repaired-destroyedagain Puma sneakers that are nothing near “lindos” anymore. So I stopped chewing on my spread-filled bagel and looked down. And sure enough there it was! I was being nibbled myself by the most miniscule mouse imaginable. I had been very still for a little while, and this fellow came out of the bushes behind the bench to try and see if I was edible. I promise the thing was not longer than three centimeters (a little more than an inch for those metric-system-impaired) plus the tail. I looked at it without moving a muscle while it took my shoe with its hands and started chewing the rim of the sole. Imagine in all proportion you take a yacht with your hands and take a bite.

I could feel the little scratch on my shoe and I turned to see the women that where smiling fascinated looking at both of us as a 110kg man (200+ pounds… I know I need to lose weight) was being depredated alive by a 10gr critter. A boy was riding his scooter around the fountain and passed relatively close to me doing some noise. The mouse jumped over my foot, bounced back and ran into the bushes. Literally the whole thing jumped over me and I couldn’t feel it, that’s how small it was.

The two women and I looked at each other and I muttered: “lindo”. They definitely agreed. I finished my bagel and came home to tell you about it, because I’m sure the thing is now enjoying that little piece of everything bagel that I left for him under the bench.