THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 21, 1994 TAG: 9408190259
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Long : 124 lines
Saturday, Aug. 6
10:45 a.m. - Crestar Bank at Fairfield Shopping Center.
Rain is pouring outside and activity is light at the inside teller windows where two retirees are withdrawing cash at separate windows.
Amid the small talk, one of the tellers asks her customer if given the weather forecast he'll spend the day watching baseball on television - especially since a players strike is imminent.
Not a chance, he responds. ``I don't give a damn if they never play another baseball game,'' he adds. ``All I care about baseball is that I know when the season ends, football begins.''
The other retiree, a stranger to the other, appears to agree.
``They all want too much money anyway,'' he says loudly from two windows away.
- Kevin Armstrong
Sunday, Aug. 7
8:30 a.m. - Norfolk International Airport.
A crowd of about 100 wait to board a charter plane destined for Bay St. Louis, Miss., a popular gambling spot. Many people in the group, made up of mostly middle-age folks, are sharing their secrets for a successful gambling trip.
One woman offers her own suggestion for getting rich quick, ``You know that song?'' she says to her friend nearby. `` `You gotta know when to fold 'em, know when to hold 'em, know when to walk away and know when to run . . . .' Just remember that and you'll do fine.''
- Lori A. Denney
Saturday, Aug. 13
3:15 p.m. - Luv-a-Pet, off Princess Anne Road.
Two parrots regularly hold court at this pet store and compete vigorously for the customers' and workers' attention. Simon is the smaller and younger of the two and will allow certain people to scratch his head. Coco is much bigger, more vocal and does not like anyone but the store owner and employees to touch him.
Both birds, however, will hop onto people's fingers or arms from an employee's hand.
Since they don't get along very well, the two parrots cannot be in or on the same cage or even in the same vicinity. Today, Coco is sitting atop the wooden door to the back room. One couple approaches him and calls his name. The green bird stops chewing at the ledge and cocks his head to one side.
``Coco, pretty boy,'' the woman coos, holding out her hand. ``C'mere, boy!''
Coco swoops his beak down as if to peck at the hand and moves as
far away from the woman as possible. Unfazed, the couple walks to the middle of the store, where a friendlier Simon is entertaining children with his chirping and swinging on a pole.
``Simon, c'mere,'' the woman urges, again holding out her hand. This time an employee comes over, coaxes Simon onto her hand and brings him over to the customer. Simon hops right onto the woman's hand and slowly inches his way up her arm.
``Oh, look, I think he likes me!'' the woman exclaims, cooing at the bird. But Simon has other things in mind. He makes it to the woman's shoulder and instead of giving kisses, as the employee asks, pecks at her long gold earring, dangling tantalizingly close to his beak.
Within minutes Simon triumphantly pulls the clip earring off the woman's lobe, to the delight of the small crowd gathered around the pair.
``Hey, give that back!'' the woman says, laughing with the rest of the people. She takes her earring back and places a disappointed Simon back on his perch.
- Pam Starr
11:10 p.m. - A night spot on Cypress Avenue.
Speaking loudly, a waitress on the patio tells a table of customers they owe $6 for their drinks. The patrons shell out six $1 bills to their server.
Then she waves the singles at the table yelling ``Where's my tip? I want a dollar tip. You owe me $7!
She repeats herself three times saying, ``I work very hard out here. This is how I earn my money. I work out here for tips; this is all I get paid!''
Members of the group, who have apparently settled in for a long evening, look a little confused and slightly embarrassed. ``We'll tip her when we get ready to leave, not before,'' says one of the men.
- David B. Hollingsworth
Monday, Aug. 15
3:15 p.m. - A business at Pembroke.
Office workers - in stockings, high heels, coats and ties - are clustered around a puddle in the wet parking lot.
Some are squatting, others are standing and pointing at the tiny pool of water no more than an inch deep.
August rains, it seems, have created life in the middle of the pavement.
A batch of tiny black tadpoles swim back and forth in the puddle.
- Melinda Forbes
Wednesday, Aug. 17
5 p.m. - North End Feeder Road.
A group of people are gathered in the median strip at 73rd Street. They are all looking skyward.
The object of their attention is a cockateel, hopping around on a telephone wire. They make bird noises and hold their fingers up in the air and out like a perch, trying to coax it down.
But the bird seems to be enjoying both the human contact and its taste of freedom.
The cockateel takes off and flies half a block down the street and lands on another wire. All the people run after it, but the bird just squawks and bobs and flies around as if teasing the folks below.
- Mary Reid Barrow
Saturday, Aug. 6 10:45 a.m. - Crestar Bank at Fairfield Shopping Center.
Rain is pouring outside and activity is light at the inside teller windows where two retirees are withdrawing cash at separate windows.
Amid the small talk, one of the tellers asks her customer if given the weather forecast he'll spend the day watching baseball on television - especially since a players strike is imminent.
Not a chance, he responds. ``I don't give a damn if they never play another baseball game,'' he adds. ``All I care about baseball is that I know when the season ends, football begins.''
The other retiree, a stranger to the other, appears to agree.
``They all want too much money anyway,'' he says loudly from two windows away. ILLUSTRATION: Riding high
Photo by L. TODD SPENCER
John West rides one of the waves at Croatan Beach where the cool
spate of weather has kicked up some good surf. The arrival of
fall-like weather is a reminder that some of the best months for
surfing - late September through mid-May - are still ahead.
by CNB