Copyrights reserved by the author. If you are in doubt, please click on 'Copyrights' and read the details.The best way to people peep is from a parking lot
by J. G. Fabiano I’ve always enjoyed watching people. I do this a lot during the summer when I sit on my dilapidated chair on the beach, at work when I should be working, and even in my car during the many delays caused by the construction sites on our highways needed to rebuild what was destroyed during the winter months. The other day I found another people-peeping site as I waited for my wife in my car outside Hannaford’s Super Market in York. I just dropped her off and waited by the entrance because all she had to buy was some batteries for some piece of electronic equipment I had long since taken for granted. As I waited I played a favorite CD and just stared out my windshield watching people enter and leave the store. The first two people I watched leave the store were a young couple who must have just returned from a vacation where the sun was strong. I knew this because her skin was a deep brown with blonde streaks flowing through her hair. The female part of this couple was also wearing brightly colored summer-like clothes that haven’t been seen around these parts since late last August. He, on the other hand, was red and peeling. His hair was bright orange probably due to some kind of hair product that promised to make any hair blonde. He also looked in pain and because of this was wearing very loose fitting clothing. During their walk into the parking lot she controlled the conversation while pushing their cart toward their car. He followed closely behind saying little while it looked as though he was concentrating on not having his clothes touch his torched skin. I don’t think he is looking forward to the summer months as much as the rest of the people who just survived the winter months. Walking into the store was an older couple. He led the way while she followed close behind. Unlike the young couple they passed, he seemed to be having a monologue with himself because I did not see her speak at all. The most interesting part of this couple was the way the man was dressed. He wore a bright yellow t-shirt and a pair of bright blue Bermuda shorts. It was obvious they had not just returned from a vacation where it was warm because both of their skins matched the rest of us being a pale and almost translucent white. He was a big man with flowing white hair and the most remarkable moustache I have seen in some time. It must have taken him years to develop his handlebar moustache that exploded under his nose. He must also spend a lot of money on grease that allows the moustache to defy the power of gravity! The sad part about this particular couple was I don’t remember much about her. She seemed like a blur that followed wherever her husband wanted her to go. In fact, I don’t remember what she was wearing. I do remember feeling a bit of sadness knowing that a person could actually lose oneself in another person. This seems like such a loss of life to me, but, who am I to say anything for all I am doing is observing. A new family then exploded out of the entrance / exit of the super market. He led the way pushing a double carriage filled with a son and a daughter who was dressed in bright clothing and seemed to be laughing on their amusement-like ride through the grocery store and now into the parking lot. Hey, at that age every minute of every day is an adventure that has to be enjoyed. It’s too bad we all have to grow up at some point in our lives and experience the mundane as not something new but something one has to do. The parents of these children also seemed to be enjoying their family’s time together. As he was pushing the carriage they held hands and, unlike the older couple I observed, were having a dialogue about something that probably was not important but still enjoyable because they were doing it together. Half-way into the parking lot he stopped walking and hugged his assumed wife. Both of the children in the double carriage turned their head because of their lack of motion and simply enjoyed their parents loving each other. There was no doubt in my mind these two children would have happy and successful lives in their future. I then watched a single man walk briskly to the store. He was wearing a white shirt and black jacket and must have been in his mid-thirties and had the misfortune of acquiring the balding gene from one of his parents. He tried to hide his lack of hair by pushing the hair from the back of his head over the park of his skull that had little of anything left on it. This always failed because Maine in the Spring is perpetually filled with winds and breezes that remove all the hopes of any young or old man to hide the fact he is follicly challenged. As he entered the store I watched him attempt a glance at his reflection in the glass of the door. I laughed as he looked, raised his hands to his head, give a quick shrug and enter the store with his bald head shining. Two women passed the man as they left the store. Their baskets were filled to the brim from their adventure through the super market. Both were laughing and talking to each other at the same time probably not knowing what the other was saying. They held their over-filled baskets with one hand while the other waved in the air attempting to make a point that might just make the other stop talking. This, of course, did not work. What interested me about these two women was half-way into the parking lot they separated in order to find their own cars but, even after they separated they continued to talk and wave their hand. I assume they met in the store and probably hadn’t seen each other for years. This meant they had to catch up on both of their lives in the time it took to purchase their families food and walk out into the parking lot. However, this scenario is in my mind’s eye and has little to do with reality. Or at least I don’t think so. I knew it wouldn’t take long until I would see a couple who just had a battle over something they would forget within the next hour or so. The woman walked steps ahead shaking her head back and forth while the man had the palms of his hands facing the sky trying to understand why his partner was so angry with him. He probably knew but it is always best to play stupid. At least this has sometimes worked for me in the past. Right before they were about to enter the store she abruptly stopped, turned around, and called him a profanity I am not allowed to print in any publication. He then stopped in front of her and to my surprise shrugged his shoulders seemingly agreeing with what she had just called him. By the time they reached the inside of the store they joined as a couple as if this simple explosion of emotion made everything Ok. In the few minutes my wife was in the store I watched many people enter and leave the store each with their own story. I watched an over-sized boisterous couple meet a quiet diminutive couple at the entrance to the store. The larger couple controlled the conversation while the smaller couple seemed to hold on to each other in hopes they would not be crushed. I also watched some singles walk out of the store carrying one or two parcels not having to worry about supplying a family: these people never look happy. As I was peering out my windshield I was passed by one of the employees of the store. I knew her because for the past few years she worked at the photo counter. I smiled and she smiled back. There was something about the expression on her face that showed me she knew exactly what I was doing sitting in my car waiting for my wife. The End.
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