that’s my stapler

My first (let’s pretend there could be more) James Brown sighting occurred today. I was walking between buildings at work, down the sidewalk on Peachtree Street. Having circumnavigated an overzealous Vespa girl who decided her scooter somehow qualified her to use the sidewalk, I noticed a woman stepping away from a limo at the building next door to mine. As I got closer, my attention went from her (she looked pretty classy, nice dress) back to the limo and the gentlemen waiting there. I began to get a feeling of familiarity from one of them, even though I could only see him from the back and just a bit from the side occasionally. That hair and jawline…

As I stepped past him (only about 3 feet away) I stole a glance leftward and knew it was he, the Godfather of Soul himself. I did the only thing I could think of; I kept walking, and told everyone at work about it afterward. Sure, I could have stopped to shake his hand, tell him he’s great, say something profound like “You’re James Brown!”; but in the final analysis, I don’t feel I could have summoned up the level of cool it would take to just stop and talk to the man on the sidewalk, as if we’d just bumped into each other outside our normal schedule and I’d see him for lunch on Friday as usual. Maybe next time, James Brown. Maybe next time.