09 May 2008

Andre the Giant

 

Taken while he gave my horoscope.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Does Andre provide you with lottery numbers while he tells your horoscope? How much does he charge for the horoscope?

Mark Miller said...

This is probably one of the reasons Mallory's Colerain car wash lady thinks we have "bodies piled in the streets." Nothing remotely similar exists in suburbia.

Back in 1980 I took the #22 bus from high school, transferring to #32 at Gov't Square to get back home to Delhi. Sometimes I'd spend an hour roaming around to get acquainted with downtown. Fountain square had these stone tables on the western edge with checker-boards mosaic-ed into the surface.

This one black guy was always there hustling chess. He got a buck a game, and could beat anybody in less than ten moves, including folks I knew to be very good. He'd play all three tables simultaneously, taunting his opponents and lining up his next games the whole time.

I paid him $2 a game on the condition that he explain each of his moves as he made them. He obliged, and still always mated me in under a dozen moves. Watching him work was sheer unadulterated beauty.

I knew I was being played, but it was fun. Characters like that make downtown interesting. Please forgive my lengthy reminiscence, but it's good to see some remnants of that spirit are still alive in our urban core.

CityKin said...

"How much does he charge for the horoscope?"

Sometimes he'll hit you up for a buck but not usually.

Mark, There are all kinds of characters here and I feel bad sometimes for rushing past or not listening, but there are good stories there if you make the time. I'm always suprised how many, like Andre were in Vietnam for example.