The Woman Who Feeds the Pigeons in Polish

Every afternoon at four, an elderly woman sits on the bench outside my office building and feeds the pigeons, talking to them in Polish the whole time.

For months I just walked past. Then one rainy day I sat down on the other end of the bench to wait for my ride, and she offered me a piece of her poppy-seed cake. We started talking. Her name is Halina. She came to Chicago in 1968. She worked as a seamstress for forty years. She has named most of the pigeons, after her old neighbors in Kraków.

Now I eat my afternoon snack with her a couple of times a week. She tells me which pigeon is the troublemaker this week (it's always Pan Zbigniew). She's teaching me a Polish word a day.

I've learned "thank you," "rain," and "cake." She says I'm making excellent progress. I think she just likes having someone to share the bench with. So do I.