Meeting Leonard...

It was a warm, sunny day in beautiful Nashville. I left my hotel, passing by the venue where Leonard Cohen would be playing that night and crossed the street to where there were two fountains I had grown fond of since I arrived in town the previous day. The fountains flanked a massive, column-intensive state building. There is a War Memorial there if you keep walking left in the large, open courtyard with the bookend fountains--a single, lacey-white bubbling cascade of water sung in the middle of large square pools of water.

Sitting on a marble bench that lined a planter for about twenty feet, while facing the sun and fountain, I took off my jacket and lit a cigarette. It was like a summer day in Juneau, this glorious fall day in Nashville. I had a notebook with me and was about to dig it out of my purse along with a black gel pen that makes my uber sloppy handwriting a little less indecipherable when I noticed a slight man approaching. He was wearing a beret and a light, waist-length jacket. I'd taken a long walk to Broadway that morning and had my sandals off to cool my feet on the smooth stone. The man continued on towards the fountain I had staked claim to and I hoped he continued on down towards the center of the long seating so I could still feel alone with my thoughts and not worry about bothering a stranger with cigarette smoke. When he got almost to the corner section where I was I paused and looked harder. Was that Leonard? A shift in profile pretty much confirmed it was him.

Should I say something? I didn't want to be 'bugged' so why should he? But then again, it was an opportunity I would probably end up regretting if I didn't say something, so I surreptitiously slipped my watch off and asked if he knew what time it is. He said he did not.
So I said, "Okay, thanks."
And he said, "Nice day, isn't it?"
And I said, "Yes, beautiful."
And he continued on down the path that surrounded the fountain and I swear out of the corner of my eye, I saw him skipping.

None of this is true. Well, none of the parts involving Leonard are true. I never saw him...but I did have a nice conversation with that fountain and my notebook.