It is raining cats and dogs in New York. The entire city looks like a really nicely filled sponge. Nicely filled stone and metal sponge. It makes sense to go to a restaurant near by when the weather is so unbearable. The restaurant is called Acqua. It is on Amsterdam and 95th street. Up the block. I will not report about the quite excellent food, or the wine which makes me want to say some really out there things. What I need to write about is the encounter with the dragonfly.
Imagine sitting in the corner of an Italian restaurant packed with loud partons, on an extremely rainy day. Are we there?
I noticed a fluttering feeling on my left arm. I was wearing short sleeves and so the feeling was the one of a tickle. I looked down on my sweater and there she was. A dragonfly. A beautiful animal. Maybe three inches long, well, two and a half. The wings were moved to the back, the large head was clearly staring at me. I immediately got up to get her out of the door, to save her from being trapped here in this Italian restaurant with all the inconsiderate humans. I cupped my left hand and held it as a protective shield over the animal... but as I was heading for the door, I remembered the horrible rain out there. This was too much for a little friend like this insect. I opened my left hand, and she flew away, away into the invisible areas of the dining room.
It was not until about twenty minutes later that the same dragonfly appeared on the window next to me. It was as if she were looking at the rain and not quite understanding why she was not getting wet. I stretched out my right hand and the animal landed on it. (I am not making this up, it really happened, just minutes ago). She was beautiful. I saw her really enormous jaws, I saw her beautifully curved blue body. She moved her head in very interesting ways. She would have been completely symmetrical, only her three left legs appeared to be shorter than the three right ones. I assumed that it was only because she was compensating for the unevenness of the back of my hand. I told her how beautiful she was. I also told her that this might not be the best time to carry her outside. It is still pouring...
She flew away. She spent the rest of the evening in a really warm place, right over one of the lamps near the window. It was as if I were the only person in the entire place who was able to see her. I hope she is okay. If the weather gets better tomorrow, the owners of Acqua will hopefully open the doors and the dragonfly will be able to go back to the wonderfully rich hunting grounds of the upper westside....
This encounter reminded me of the one time when in the midst of winter, a monarch butterfly landed on my shoulder. I put her next to the heater, hoped that she would at least die in comfort...
I also remember this other time I met a different butterfly, in California, remember?
(More dragondfly encounters)