French Quarter Streetcar

{I'm in New Orleans, Louisiana: sitting happily people watching before it’s time for the streetcar to leave. Conversation is interesting. This story is based on a series of Threads that I posted, started while on the streetcar and finished after I'd disembarked.

I've corrected spelling AND terminology: I'd originally referred to the vehicle as a 'trolley', and have since been corrected many times. It is most properly a streetcar, which is a type of trolley. These are the nuances for which we travel to learn.}

~

Little dude is showing us two rings that his Gramma is letting him hold. One is for Maureen and the other for Jessie.

They’re his girlfriends and he will marry them both when he grows up. Auntie wishes him luck, but 'Jessie doesn’t like pie'.

Driver finds this suspicious. I am worried little dude is going to drop those rings and that they'll roll out of the car.

~

Couple comes on and guy is scrolling and looking for the LePass app. It’s the lady’s 21 birthday (as shown by the birthday sash she wears and the tiara on her head) and we all call out happy birthday wishes.

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There is no eating and drinking on the trolley. (This is posted on the signs and reinforced by the robotic voice that chimes out announcements every few minutes) Only three other folks beside me on the packed car are not holding a drink.

Birthday girl stops to chat with the driver, then the driver waves them on, although Big Dude is negotiating two drinks in addition to his phone.

~

Still waiting for departure. Big dude with birthday lass is still scrolling through the phone. No more smiles. Looks at the driver.

‘I have the app’ he mutters. The women are looking on. Birthday girl adjusts the sash and tiara.

~

Driver tells the dude he believes him.

‘The pass is $3.00 for the day my man. I believe you. And if you’re lying it’s between you and God. Go sit down.”

~

The man keeps scrolling while his birthday sashed tiara-wearing lady sits down. Auntie reaches over, takes the phone and taps it on the console. (Tapping a phone is not how you pay. Since the app isn't open there's no pass to scan.)

She hands it back and tells him ‘There. You paid. Sit down.’

Little dude goes to the birthday princess and asks for a drink of ‘the Pepsi.’

~

There is no Pepsi in that drink.

Gramma districts him by handing him a leg of fried chicken- which is certainly food... and just as certainly -according to the voice- not to be onboard.

No one bats an eye.. except an out of towner (OOT) that confidently states, at a certain volume, that ‘The south knows nothing about chicken.’

It gets quieter immediately.

~

The driver looks interested, and softly asks 'who knows about chicken, then?'

OOT informs all passengers that the best fried chicken is at a gas station in Baldwin, (no further details re: location are given) run by a Vietnamese couple that uses certain spices and 'fries it crisp'.

Little dude take a bite of the chicken leg he is holding.

We all can hear the crunch.

~

It remains silent until Gramma shares that it 'must be some chicken to be better than hers.'

Little dude takes a crunchy bite and mutters something. It could be a suggestion for OOT to stop talking.

If it is, it has no impact on OOT. He takes a deep breath and parts his lips.

~

I don’t know what else would have been said.

That’s because big dude suddenly shouts out that he ‘found the app! See? I was telling the truth!’ just as the driver got the car into gear and we started to roll.

The jolt made the birthday princess spill the not-Pepsi on the big dude’s lap.

Auntie sips her liquid through the Big Gulp tumbler emblazoned with a Fat Tues Day statement. (It’s broken up because the ‘Tuesday’ was too long to fit the quarter curve of the tumbler.)

~

'That’s why there’s no drinks on the car' she says with dignity. She takes another sip. 'Some people can’t hold their liquor.'

I bubbled a giggle. She looks at me and swallows. Little dude asks for more chicken. We pull up to the first stop.

Little dude exchanges the chicken leg, picked reasonably clean, for a small wing.

I get out at the next stop, wondering if OOT will realize he was saved by a slosh and thus remain silent.

I also wonder what Vietnamese fried chicken tastes like.

~

It was a good end to a wander-about on the last day of my first time in New Orleans.

I hope Jessie learns to like pie. 🥧 Little dude smiled the biggest when her name was spoken.

I guess anything can happen if you give it enough time.

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You can find me here on Threads.

Your comments are appreciated and eagerly anticipated. If you can describe Vietnamese fried chicken, that would be a bonus.