Walk #44

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13 June 2005
4:41 pm to 5:41 pm
Heads: 56
Tails: 50
Total intersections: 36
Ending point: 1 New York Plaza (corner of Water Street and Moore Street)
Latitude/longitude: 40:42.09.94/74:00.44.47W
Distance from home: 0.5163 miles
Literature received: None
Coin: 2004 Texas quarter (P)

As I left the house, a verdict was imminent in the Michael Jackson child-molestation trial.

It was a hot, sticky day. I walked around in circles for a while, passing by a cop who jingled loudly as he walked–maybe he had borrowed an extra-large set of keys from a janitor? I ended up on the east side of the World Trade Center site. Tourists peered at it while they sucked on their water bottles–or in the case of one particularly thirsty guy, a gallon jug. Nothing was going on the pit, but people were filming it with video cameras anyway.

I passed by an overweight man puffing on a pipe. There was sticky tar underfoot as I headed back east. A homeless guy was watching the news on a little portable black-and-white TV, waiting for the jury to announce their decision. I could hear the newscaster killing time, saying, “We all remember the aerial shots of Neverland Ranch.”

I passed by the NYU hospital, then down south on Water Street, then around the block and north again. I spotted another pipe smoker–had it become trendy when I wasn’t paying attention? When my timer went off at the end of the hour, I was bathed in sweat, and I didn’t know what was going to happen to Michael Jackson.