The New Age of People Watching
Sitting in Subway, looking out the window. If I squint, I almost see the scan lines. No edges though. There's Goodwill Thrift store...jewlery store...theater...icecream/coffee bar (looking down at the cup on my 'bench' and remembering the look from the girl making my sub...veggie delight and a venti mocha) furniture rental store..all in a row.
Traffic is disturbed...a Suburban stops in the foreground and and a woman gets out as a man exits a truck right next to it. The truck, there the whole time, its still occupant invisible until now. No visible discussion, perhaps mutterings at this distance, but no break in activity for a real exchange. She hands him a car seat which he mounts in the crew seat of the truck. Then he walks around to the opposite side of the Suburban, gone for a few seconds and returns with a small child to which he is obviously talking; his not immediately apparent scowl melting away as checks the straps on her seat.
From behind the woman hands him a couple of bags which he puts next to her and shuts the door. The woman does not look back...as if she'd just dropped an important letter into a mailbox...chanting an internal mantra of trust for the post office. By the time she closes the door, he has driven off talking into the windshield.
The odd is almost destined to become common...almost as if the word 'rare' is more of a schoolyard dare to the cosmos. While not always good...this grows hope.
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