that dusty dancing feeling at the streetcorner
She had one hand holding out a leaflet, the other hand carrying the rest of the pile. She stood against the wall, right at the street corner where people waited to cross. She didn't move. Her eyes were level with the cigarette ash atop the rubbish bin. It was getting dark.
"Take it. I don't care much for this restaurant and I don't care if you try it or not or toss it on the ground, and I don't know if the food's any good cos I've never tried, and it's not like you'd ask cos you're just as bored as I am just as the rest of them, but you see, I'm supposed to hand them out, so my hand is out, like this. Take it or leave it. I don't care. Whoever you are. I don't care. If I keep frozen I can completely disappear. If I keep my attention on one spot and one spot only, time will pass more quickly."
But it doesn't. And her leaflets don't get any lighter, and I don't know if people become more cheerful when given a discount at a restaurant, but they do walk faster when the green light blinks, and the longer you take, the faster it blinks.
We are conditioned to walk around those who give us paper on the street and , likewise, to stop when the light's red, and we become one of many waiting to cross the road. Then something crispy about the air gives someone like me this autumnish vibe as day turns to night, but dust is dust no matter the season or time of day, and there'll always be buses that stamp your toes and cigarette smoke that blows your way and construction destruction construction that make you shield your face and turn around and there she is, standing against the wall. She doesn't see me and she doesn't move.
Then she does this amazing thing where she's got one hand holding out a leaflet and the other clutching the rest of the pile while reaching into her pocket to take out her phone, and she starts sliding her thumb along that little frosty glare.
And there's that fluttering piece of paper between her fingertips. You don't walk around it the first time and stop and think and turn around, and certainly not at the intersection when the light is green, and all eyes and feet are set on getting to the other side.
"Take it. I don't care much for this restaurant and I don't care if you try it or not or toss it on the ground, and I don't know if the food's any good cos I've never tried, and it's not like you'd ask cos you're just as bored as I am just as the rest of them, but you see, I'm supposed to hand them out, so my hand is out, like this. Take it or leave it. I don't care. Whoever you are. I don't care. If I keep frozen I can completely disappear. If I keep my attention on one spot and one spot only, time will pass more quickly."
But it doesn't. And her leaflets don't get any lighter, and I don't know if people become more cheerful when given a discount at a restaurant, but they do walk faster when the green light blinks, and the longer you take, the faster it blinks.
We are conditioned to walk around those who give us paper on the street and , likewise, to stop when the light's red, and we become one of many waiting to cross the road. Then something crispy about the air gives someone like me this autumnish vibe as day turns to night, but dust is dust no matter the season or time of day, and there'll always be buses that stamp your toes and cigarette smoke that blows your way and construction destruction construction that make you shield your face and turn around and there she is, standing against the wall. She doesn't see me and she doesn't move.
Then she does this amazing thing where she's got one hand holding out a leaflet and the other clutching the rest of the pile while reaching into her pocket to take out her phone, and she starts sliding her thumb along that little frosty glare.
And there's that fluttering piece of paper between her fingertips. You don't walk around it the first time and stop and think and turn around, and certainly not at the intersection when the light is green, and all eyes and feet are set on getting to the other side.
posted by Adam C at
2:41 AM
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