Did I tell you about meeting the Armenian couple in Amsterdam?

During an hours-long stroll through the wonky city, I came to a large plaza area where a man with headset and a big circus ball gathered a large audience. At a corner of this plaza stood a bank, beside one wall of which stooped a thin man playing accordion. He wore tan pants, a heavy coat, and a scarf. His narrow face stood from his collar with a knit beanie holding his head.

From a distance he looked young and I slowed my pace to get a better hear of his music, Armenian traditionals. I hesitated to pass as he finished a song and a girl went up to give him change and chat, about what I will never know. I approached as she walked away.


We talked about where he is from and his wife appeared from nowhere. We talked and he and she spoke to only each other at one point in a language I had never heard. They disagreed, I only imagined about her invitation for me to join them with my guitar. During their subtle exchange, he lifted one pant leg to reveal bright red cotton pants underneath with yellow, pink, blue and white polka dots. "Do you think he would understand this?" I imagined the man saying.

"Do you want coffee?" the woman asked me.

"Sure, I would love some," for the day kept very cold and gray.

She gestured for me to follow. We rounded the corner of the bank and through the doors. On the far side of the only clerk and several customers, a coffee machine sat on a counter. The clerk watched the Armenian woman and me approach the sign claiming "Coffee for customers only" and us ignoring it. The woman ignored also the sign that said "Out of order". The clerk ignored her customer and kept her eyes on us, my leader working to get a coffee to realize it doesn't work.

"It doesn't work," she told me and we walked back out without looking at the clerk. The woman gave a flippant flick of her hand as she led me back outside, as if to say, "It's that simple."

We stood a distance from her husband playing from his spot. She encouraged me to return with my guitar and I went off.