Thursday, August 23, 2007

classic

The day is sweltering hot, which is atypical despite the fact the town I'm in is called Hot Springs. It's 2 p.m., my car themometer reads 99 degrees and the street is empty except for a few motorcyclists chugging through town. Almost all of the stores are closed.

I have a little bit of time to kill before meeting a friend, so I drive down the main street, looking around. Ahead of me, I spot a lot of white hair and T-shirts. I keep driving, getting closer. What's going on? A parade? An accident? One by one, about six faces turn toward me, our eyes catching. I drive by, looking at the group of about six men sitting on a stone wall. They're in the shade of some large trees and overgrown hedges. What's going on? I'm what's going on. Me, in my car, driving down the street. They smile. I smile. We all wave.

Oh, to live in a town where the excitement at 2 p.m. is watching traffic.

1 comment:

Kathryn Frances Walker said...

maybe it's because i just read "the ballad of the sad cafe" but this makes me think of that town. something ghost-like but an eastern seaboard ghost-like which is cooler in some ways than out west cause you don't expect it around here. and now i will go comment on those apples. xoxoxo this is from frances.