ORACLE ON FLATBUSH.(The Talk of the Town)

Publication: The New Yorker

Publication Date: 03-NOV-03

Bookmark this article Print this article Link to this article Email this article Digg It! Add to del.icio.us RSS

COPYRIGHT 2003 All rights reserved. Reproduced by permission of The Condé Nast Publications Inc.

On a broad patch of sidewalk at the corner of Flatbush Avenue and Bergen Street, across from Yummy Taco, an old-fashioned wooden box telephone materialized recently. The phone, which is mounted on a metal stand, as if it were a floor lamp, has brass ringer bells, a wooden receiver on one side, and a crank on the other. On the dial is written "The Pintchik Oracle," and, below that, a psychedelic sticker asks, "Do you have a question? Don't be afraid and speak clearly. Say your name, ask a question."

If you stop and stare at the phone for a while, some passerby is bound to start laughing at you, at which point the thing to do is to look over at Pintchik's Hardware and then turn...

Read the full article for free courtesy of your local library.