Various Lives

It is a moderate temperature of 63 degrees, the sun peeking through the cracks in the clouds, with a splendid possibility of blue skies in an hour or two. With the slight breeze gusting toward me, I smell the magnificent mix of sweet zestiness approaching from the open door of Panda Express and the warm scent of delightful cookie dough. This Valentine’s Day was a nice way to spend the afternoon.

Many people walk by entering these stores and exiting them. Some of the people walk in temporarily, followed by returning outside to enjoy their lunch in the constantly improving weather conditions. One elderly couple goes out to indulge in their sandwiches they had recently purchased from Lucchesi’s Delicatessen. I realize how uniform their lunch experience is, the wife carries their diet colas and the husband takes the their baked barbequed chips. They assume the seats just outside the doors of the deli and continue conversation. The way this couple carries out the lunch routine is as if they had been doing this for years.

Most of the people wandering around the shopping center were not alone. They had a friend, a girlfriend or boyfriend, a husband or wife or family members. Along with having someone next to them they also have a great conversational partner. Although I could not make out their dialect, I could make out some common exclamations such as, “I know!” or “Can you believe that?” Even though these are private discussions, I hear these outbursts without straining my ears.

As well as the sounds of the people’s voices there are many sounds to listen to coming from the inside of the stores and restaurants. The interior of Panda Express was bustling with orders of orange chicken and the special of the month firecracker chicken. Along with these orders there are many clangs and clashes of metal dishes scraping against the grill and utensils. Leaving the AT&T store a younger girl is thanking her mother a thousand times for the brand new cell phone that she has just received. To celebrate this new device the two entered Cold Stone Creamery. Whispering voices from the ice cream shop order chocolate ice cream with cookie dough topping. This soft whisper makes one think of a shy child revealing to their parent, gently in their ear, what they desire.

In this setting there are many cars passing by, parking as well as slowly searching for the parking spots that are scarce in most shopping centers in these modern days. While looking at the variety of cars lined up in the parking spots, there are a great deal of different brands of sedans, trucks, mini-vans, SUV’s and hatchbacks. All of these manufactured by Nissan, Chevrolet, Toyota, Honda, Ford and Dodge with the selection of hybrids and diesel. These masses of cars seemed like sardines tightly squished in a small tin.

The exterior of the building possesses a very familiar to most people with the sponge-painted a monotonous beige. The pointy prickly texture points out the commonality of this outer shell of most buildings.

There are six or seven metallic tables. These tables have crosshatched tops with a hole in the middle for an umbrella. Even though every table has an umbrella hole only three have them; all three occupied by people having lunch. To each table there are three chairs each defensively chained to the legs of the tables. Though they are chained to the legs, there was enough slack to lean back, scoot back, or even change position around the table. Also crosshatched, the cool metal seat of the chair sent shivers up the spines of those who sit upon them.

Having the chance to sit back and observe all that goes on around a small shopping center is a truly realizing activity. All of the happenings around the four stores show the differences of the lives various people. It also shows the different stages families are in. The elderly couple is probably in an empty house with their kids either out of school or in college. Whereas the young girl and her mother are right in the middle of all the school dramas of caddy girls and cooties.

While looking into the lives of others, while noticing the various manufacturers, while entertaining the five senses, while detecting the multiple feelings around me, this ended up being a very realizing experience for me.

SAM