A Dollar, An Orange, and a Courtesy Ticket

Parking meters and One-Way Streets have always confused me; their concepts as well as their effectiveness. Perhaps it's just the country in me, and the fact that I'm not used to either, but they're scary to encounter.
When I got to the Pavilion I decided to just pay a few cents to park on the street rather than brave a parking ramp. So I parked and got out of my truck and the meter said that 60 cents is good for an hour. Perfect! I put in my 60 cents, and then the timer portion started flashing "Out of Order." Yippee. And there was a sign that said don't park by a meter that's out of order. Ugh. So I checked the next meter and it didn't appear to be out of order so I backed up 12 feet into the next spot and put in my money. Grumbling as I crossed the street into the lobby of the Pavilion, I found a man sitting on the steps looking up at me with a hopeful expression. I would guess he's in his late 20s or early 30s, and he smelled heavily of alcohol. He asked if I could give him a quarter so he could buy a bus fare. (I rarely carry cash on me. This one time though, I just so happened to have a dollar in my pocket.) I instinctively thought I should just run back to my truck and grab a quarter, and then I remembered the dollar. "Do ya just want a dollar?" I asked him. His eyes lit up and he said, "Yeah! Whatever ya got-uh can afford-uh can give. Yeah, yeah." I handed him my dollar and asked if he needed anything else. "Anything else? Uh-whatever you can give." He seemed nice, and (for those of you who don't know me well I try to be prepared. And I am a very hungry person and I go through a ton of food. I think if I was a vehicle I'd be a Suburban...seriously. Strange as this will sound, I happened to have 2 oranges tucked in my coat pockets.) So I offered him an orange. "Are ya hungry? I can give ya an orange." His eyes lit up more. "An orange? Sure!" I cheerfully handed him my orange. (Maybe I should've given him both...). He asked my name and shook my hand; during the handshake he told me my hand was cold so I should go farther in the building to warm up. I headed inward, and when I looked back he was already biting into the orange.
That was really cool. I think it's probably the 1st time I've ever given a stranger money and food out of my own pocket. I am just glad I got to help him. I figure he knew I had change because he would've seen me fumbling around with change and the parking meters. I hope he's somewhere warm tonight.
Then I entered the Visual Arts Gallery, and there are currently 6 galleries filled with art. The first one has 60 acrylic painting illustrations of Haiku poems by Kobayahi Issa (1763-1828). Issa was a famous Japanese master of Haiku poems. Mark McGinnis is the artist who recently painted the scenes to accompany Issa's poems.
All the paintings are very beautiful and realistic. He has many scenery pictures and close-ups of landscape. Gorgeous sunrises over mountains, intricate dew drops, bamboo forests, and leaping frogs are just a few of the 60 beautiful paintings. It was fun to walk by and see all the very lovely paintings.
In the next gallery I saw a glass mosaic picture called "Sharing the Lead." It is a great sky blue color with 2 V's of flying birds. I like that piece. It's about teamwork, coordination, cooperation, and communication. Way to go, birds :)
Another cool piece I found is an acrylic painting on a wood panel of a youngish woman looking out over an unsettled prairie. When I looked at, I imagined the woman to be envisioning great, big dreams for her future, full of potential and hope. Then I realized that all the art in the galleries corresponds to poems, and when I read the poem by this hopeful painting, I learned that the lady is beaten by her alcoholic husband and dies young from his beating. So I just like to remember the painting and ignore that downer of a poem.
Next to the hopeful lady on the prairie is a serene oil painting of a meadowy grove. It looks very peaceful; a light breeze ruffling the prairie grasses with a few trees for some shade against the August sun. I just think it's very beautiful.
Then guess what?! I was looking at this one cool digital imagery piece with a farmer and some layering of other pictures, and I noticed that the poem by it is by Dr. Dyer! Wow! And then I found art by Ceca and Nancy! Who knew?!?!
The galleries on the 3rd floor are filled by an artist called Bryan Holland who used to work at USF! His art in the gallery was inspired by old, flaking billboards that present new messages from their torn layers. It was fun to see collages of historic brands and themes, such as astronauts and conspiracies and California orchards.
I enjoyed looking at the artwork in the Pavilion today; very fun to see what people come up with and make. It's also interesting to see what different people will take from a poem (like the Haikus and other poems) to illustrate it.
When I walked up the stairs leading me back the way I came, I could still smell the remnants of alcohol, but the man was gone. Wondering about him, and suspicious of the parking meter, I craned my neck to check on my windshield...sure enough, a little yellow envelope under my windshield wiper. Ugh! I marched across the street, ripped the soaking envelope off my windshield, unlocked my door, and chucked the envelope inside before hopping in. I thought I had the meter all figured out, and I wasted my money in the first one that was out of order, so I try to be a good citizen, and now I'm greeted with this! Thanks.
Nervous and unsure how the parking ticket process works, I opened the envelope, and guess what?! A 'courtesy ticket': No charge, no fee, $0.00 balance! WAHOOO!!! Thank you parking attendant Number 92 :-)
Graciously, I began driving with a much happier mood. I suppose I shouldn't be angry to support my country and community and abide by its rules, but I was frustrated since I'd already paid up once and I couldn't even get acknowledgement for it.
I think I'll save that little slip of paper ;-)
There's my story of a dollar, an orange, and a courtesy ticket.
P.S. I learned that when the electricity goes out in Sioux Falls, the city goes a bit chaotic. I wonder how long our ice storm will last?