During the course of the day...
I approached the automatic doors of the Eckerd on Guadalupe St., passing briefly beneath the shade of its blue eaves and the 30's-era marquis sign that hung just above them. That sign always seemed odd to me: the store's name and logo stamped in blue and framed with big, white bulbs--the kind you'd see over an old theater. I wondered if there was a show playing inside.
The doors gaped open to allow admission and then swallowed me just as quickly. A small blast of air grazed my back as they slid shut, but I could feel a more significant amount of turbulence inside, the turbulence of too many people in too small a space.
I had a cupon worth $1.00-off any variety of Marlboro cigarettes, which I fished for in my backpack, glancing up only once to see the end of a line docked at the counter and then allowing years of programming to tug me through racks of sunglasses, past shelves of candy, and around twitchy people desperate to escape the claustrophobia that comes with shelves and shelves of plastic. I hear that plastic causes cancer.
The two people in front of me (a man and a woman, both my age) turned into one as they shuffled up to the counter. I couldn't tell at first that they were together, but they slowly sank in side-by-side in front of the cashier, like two slides on a stereo equalizer. She had black hair with short waves, light brown skin, and was slightly overweight. I noticed that she sagged on crutches as my head bowed instinctively toward the ground. A peripheral awareness pulled my eyes suddenly to his right hand, which rose from its hanging position to hand the salseperson a pink, rectangular box.
It's a pregnancy test. Just as I thoguht this she cast a surveilling glance behind her. The look on her face was far-off and unfamiliar, and I imagined her vision could somehow see through all of the shelves and containers, and through the walls of the drugstore itself; what she saw didn't look to make a lot of sense to her.
Clinking change and the shrill hiss of a plastic bag brought her back from the space beyond the wall. Fate in hand, the two glided through the sliding doors and out into the mysterious space that she had just been puzzling over. I asked for Marlboro light 100s, flicked my cupon down on the counter, and waited for the total.
The doors gaped open to allow admission and then swallowed me just as quickly. A small blast of air grazed my back as they slid shut, but I could feel a more significant amount of turbulence inside, the turbulence of too many people in too small a space.
I had a cupon worth $1.00-off any variety of Marlboro cigarettes, which I fished for in my backpack, glancing up only once to see the end of a line docked at the counter and then allowing years of programming to tug me through racks of sunglasses, past shelves of candy, and around twitchy people desperate to escape the claustrophobia that comes with shelves and shelves of plastic. I hear that plastic causes cancer.
The two people in front of me (a man and a woman, both my age) turned into one as they shuffled up to the counter. I couldn't tell at first that they were together, but they slowly sank in side-by-side in front of the cashier, like two slides on a stereo equalizer. She had black hair with short waves, light brown skin, and was slightly overweight. I noticed that she sagged on crutches as my head bowed instinctively toward the ground. A peripheral awareness pulled my eyes suddenly to his right hand, which rose from its hanging position to hand the salseperson a pink, rectangular box.
It's a pregnancy test. Just as I thoguht this she cast a surveilling glance behind her. The look on her face was far-off and unfamiliar, and I imagined her vision could somehow see through all of the shelves and containers, and through the walls of the drugstore itself; what she saw didn't look to make a lot of sense to her.
Clinking change and the shrill hiss of a plastic bag brought her back from the space beyond the wall. Fate in hand, the two glided through the sliding doors and out into the mysterious space that she had just been puzzling over. I asked for Marlboro light 100s, flicked my cupon down on the counter, and waited for the total.