The Skeets of Bannerman Park. Film Crew Skeets and Modern Missionaries
ST JOHN’S, NL – Like skeets and skateboarders sometimes it’s not obvious who is a skeet and who is a labourer on a film crew. A friend in the film industry said it isn’t just a matter of appearance. Some skeets are labourers on film crews. Turned out to be true for the guy who came out of the bathroom in the snack bar in full jailhouse strut.
He was dressed in black. Big gold chain. The strut, the clothes, the chain all said, “don’t fuck with me.” By the time he reached the gazebo it was also obvious he was one of the labourers cleaning up a film set after the crew finished shooting for the day.
The film set was Christmas themed. Funny for a day in June, but there was a red Santa’s mailbox about the size of what used to be a phone booth. There was a big stack of lobster pots draped in red ribbon. Bits of fake snow scattered around. A sleigh. All the usual props for the Santa fairytale.
The skeet in black with the gold chain looked like he was telling a couple of other guys what to do, then he strided back the direction he came from and disappeared around the corner of the snackbar just as a group of tourists off of a cruise ship arrived.
The tour guide told his tale of colonial St. John’s while the two guys who took direction from a skeet continued to dismantle the set. The tour group moved on quickly but two people lingered long enough to pose for a picture by the big stack of lobster pots draped in red ribbon.
Then no sooner did the tour group stragglers move on that two well dressed young men stopped in front of an older couple sitting on the bench by the clock. Cotton trousers. Not jeans. Shirts with collars. Shoes with laces. Hair cut above the ear.
Then they opened their mouths and in unison asked the older couple, “Would like to go to church with us on Sunday?” The older couple seemed a bit surprised and then after a moment and without talking to one another said in unison, “Whaaat? Noooooo!”
The young missionaries looked like Mormons, but were dressed better. They never stopped smiling. After “What?/No!” the two young men continued to smile, said “Have a nice day”, then turned, and began to walk away.
After they had taken a few steps the old guy on the bench spoke loudly, but not shouting, said, “Where are you guys from?” The two missionaries slowed, but didn’t stop, and one turned back and said, “Calgary, Alberta.”
The old guy seemed puzzled about something. Maybe it was because the young Christian said “Calgary, Alberta” when the young soul saver could just have said, “Calgary.” Maybe he said it as an expression of pride, but with a touch of boastfulness of someone who thinks their soul has been saved and they are talking to a sinner who is going to burn in hell.
Then the old man on the bench shouted back, “Then why don’t you go the fuck back to Calgary and take your Jesus fairytale bullshit with you!”
The missionaries from Calgary just kept on walking away, soon gone like the cruise ship tour group, and like the film crew skeet dressed in black with the gold chain. Everybody was gone except the two guys taking the garland off of the light poles and unstacking the lobster pots. One of them, a long-haired guy in jeans and a flannel shirt was carrying an empty box decorated as a Christmas present down the steps of the gazebo. He looked at the old man on the bench and smiled.
Seems the old man is happier in the company of the skeets at the park.
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Get the primer on the Skeets of Bannerman Park – An Intro and the rest in this series ….there are Plenty of Skeets.
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