that second sunday in october, part 6

"What do you think is going on?" I asked, "I mean with the fire?"

"I heard someone say it started in the churro stand" he said, "the whole back of the place was on fire and it had started to spread. Might have been grease or maybe electrical?"



I shrugged an answer, the act of doing so causing a wince of pain on my face. My shoulder and foot were still aching.



"I think you should go sit down" Anupam said, "that was a pretty bad crash."



"I think you're right" I agreed with a sigh. All the benches were inside the flea market, so I stated the only other option I could think of, "I'm going to go sit in my car." I lifted my had to wave good-bye, when he asked



"May I come along?"



I had already decided he would probably prefer talking to Charley or someone else and didn't even think to offer to have him go with me.



"Uh, yeah, sure" I said, fishing the keys out of my purse and attempting to keep my breathing steady. Anupam followed me to my car. The one I couldn't recall ever having a passenger in besides my mother.



We sat there for three hours, just talking. We talked like two people who hadn't had another person to talk to for a long time. About the flea market, about UC Irvine, about Indian culture, about the Anaheim Ducks, about music, about politics, about my two cats, about my sick mother. Anupam laughed in all the right places and nodded in sympathy at all the right things. Every 15 minutes or so, I would switch on the air conditioner and let it run long enough to cool the car down. I completely forgot about the pain in my foot and shoulder.



By the time we started to take note of our surroundings, we could see that only the vendors remained loitering about the parking lot--not wanting or able to go until they could secure their merchandise. Most were sitting in their cars like we were, smoking cigarettes or napping. I spied Charley by herself near the entrance. She had on a pair of headphones, her eyes closed, swaying back and forth methodically to whatever slow song was playing in her ears.



Finally we saw one of the security guards making his way from car to car. As he approached, I rolled my window down.



"You vendors?" he asked, removing his baseball cap and scratching his bald head beneath. Anupam and I nodded. "Well, the fire is out. No damage to anything except the place it started. We're closing down for the rest of the day to clean up though. Go lock up shop as quickly as you can and we'll be ready for you again by morning." The guard put his hat back on and walked off toward the next occupied car.



I looked over at Anupam who was looking back at me, our gaze locking for a second or two longer than one usually looks at another. He broke the silence,



"Do you like cinema?" he asked, "the movies?"



"Sure" I answered, "I like a good movie."



"Would you maybe like to go to a movie with me? Tonight?"



My head started nodding, slowly at first, then gaining certainty. "Yes" I answered, breaking into a wide smile, "yes. I think I would really like that."



He returned the smile. "Okay. Good. How about we take care of our stands and then I will follow you back to your house. You can leave your car and we can drive together. Are you comfortable with this?"



I continued nodding. Anupam reached over and squeezed my hand. "Thank you for keeping me company today. It has been a long time since I have really had a talk about my life with someone. I have lived in the U.S. off and on for many years, but I often still feel a stranger here." He began to rub the length of my fingers with his thumb, the motion setting my whole body humming, "It is nice to know that someone still finds my stories interesting."