Piney Woods Philosopher: People watching observations

By BILL COBBS/Columnist

Again, Piney emphasized the fun of observing people.
When She Who Must Be Obeyed did her weekly shopping in Tampa at SAVALOT, Piney took the one seat by the door in the air-conditioned market, and observed the people.
In the first place, this store’s merchandise was 30 to 40 percent less in cost than the huge chains and so everyone who wanted to save a dollar was there. The main divisions of people were 60 percent Cuban, Mexican and Colombian in origin, then 20 percent Old Spanish, meaning original families that may have been in Florida in the 1400s! Then there were 10 percent Haitian, 20 percent American blacks, and the balance was old people like Piney.
A polyglot of languages could be heard (the Haitians’ French, and the Hispanics’ three different kinds of Spanish, mostly non-Castilian, and sometimes mixed with Quechua, an Indian dialect of South America), but about all of the population also spoke English.
All in all, everyone was dressed brightly and cleanly. Once in a while, a “bum” would spend a dollar or two to get a small meal, a doughnut or prepared sandwich, but the mass of people were doing what She Who Must Be Obeyed was doing, getting enough to eat for a week, and as cheaply as possible.
Often, as Piney sat watching, a passerby would speak to him nicely, especially the kids waiting for their parents, usually mamas.
Kids would come over and ask Piney what was he reading. He had a book on his lap (John Grisham).
The kids, of course, had never heard of Grisham and weren’t impressed. Piney asked them (they had spoken Spanish) if they could speak English. The two, 9 and 11 years old, immediately switched to perfect English, saying that was their main language as they were now Americans.
Piney enjoyed them and learned a lot about the other denizens of fair and sunny Tampa.

A writer, Bill Cobbs divides his time between Southwest Virginia and Florida.