The Dapper Man that Saved My Day

I woke up to the sound of my door buzzer this morning. Half-awake, I descended to the front door and was warned by my landlord that our garbage cans were in organizational disarray and a fine from the sanitation department was eminent. Before I was able to bathe, eat, or change my clothes, I was on my scooter to get regulation trash bags from the grocery store. It was a stressful morning. I was also very dehydrated and when I get dehydrated I get very cranky.

I purchased my garbage bags and was walking out of the store in a pessimistic mood. It's difficult to feel good about your living situation when the demanding recycling habits of the city require you to ride a child's vehicle half a mile to find a store. I felt a weight in my chest pulling me down, figuratively, until I looked up and saw this man:

This older gentleman adorned leather shoes, slacks, a knee length woolen coat, and a freaking top hat. It took me a second or two to register the top hat when I saw it. It was a very real, non-ironic top hat. Something about that made me feel immediately better. It was the whole moment, I should say. I was behind the man, shuffling through a Spanish-speaking grocery store between rusty gumball machines and an ill-positioned movie rental kiosk while morning sunlight shone in from in front of us. Nowhere else, I thought, has this moment ever occurred to anybody else. The mild absurdity made me feel lucky to be alive right there, and no amount of sanitation scolding could make me question the eclectic beauty of my city.