Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Parade

I walk north in Ybor City towards the parade. Get a bun at El Segundo Bakery. The day dawned cold but now at noon it is warm and windless. Fifteenth Street is a wide residential street with bungalows in big swept yards with big barbeques being fired up. The parade starts on time and the participants and floats are laden with many tens of thousands of bead necklaces. At first I don’t want any necklaces, but it is so easy: they are easy to toss and easy to catch with one hand. I just raise my hand casual-like and make eye contact with someone marching or on a float and a necklace lands in my hand. I get more than enough and give the rest away to kids.

When I get peckish I visit the nearest front yard barbeque and for $5 I get a drink, fish, chips and coleslaw. It’s Miss Teresa running the joint. The fish is fantastic. What’s in the batter, I ask her. I ain’t going to tell you that, she says. So good.