random note-not so hot stuff

one day not too long ago i had just stepped out of a hair salon. new color, new cut, newly straightened. i thought i looked good. i still think i looked good. only it was short lived. as i was crossing the street, with my full cup of scalding hot tea in my left hand and my cell phone in my right hand, cemented to my right ear, gabbing away with my mother, i stepped up onto the curb of the sidewalk. unaware of the metal plating on the curb's edge, i picked my backfoot up out of the street and that was it for me.

my tea went nowhere but up and unfortunately, gravity being my dear friend, came quickly back down. meanwhile, my cell phone, defying physics, flew out of my other hand [evidently not secured to my right ear] and disappeared into thin air. as for me, i can only say that i must have looked like those comedic characters straight out of old movies where they slip on a banana peel and their feet come out from under, landing them on their back. so there i was sprawled in the middle of the street, doused in hot tea, my hair--and the rest of me--in a state that i had not remotely envisioned upon exiting the salon.

a young couple attempted to help me out, in between their muffled snickers. i was a lost cause, though. i proceeded to pick myself up off the ground, hastily search about for my phone [discovering that the battery had fallen down a drain], and walked away as quickly as possible. whereas i had walked out of that salon with a strut, i walked away from the street corner with my tail between my legs, leaving behind that cell phone battery, in the company of my dignity.