This is admittedly something some people might think is written about or talked about quite a bit, too much. But it is what it is, it strikes me, still, as I observe, and I record. I wonder who else is struck by basic life, and what, specifically, strikes them.
It is for your viewing:
The mother goes to relieve herself in the bathroom while her son approaches the counter and looks at the signs. One sign shows frozen “Coolatta” drinks in neon colors, blue, orange, yellow. “New!” it reads. Another sign has a white star in the center of a blue and red target, with a large red Coolatta proudly displayed alone in the foreground. “The Coolest Way To Be A Hero… New! Cherry Flavor.” It’s the popular Captain America logo.
The son is about ten years old. He waits, appearing to scan the signs. There is an oversized white coffee mug with a dollar sticking out, for tips. The boy fidgets and turns to look at the soda and drink cooler. In a moment, he turns back and leans against the counter. The clerk has not approached him to ask if he needs assistance.His mother returns from the Women’s Room, straightening her shirt, and the clerk swiftly approaches. The mother and son are both overweight. The mother picks at the front of her pant leg to loosen it from her thigh while her gaze remains fixed on the menu.
The boy opens the cooler and reaches his hand inside to take an orange Gatorade drink, then stands next to his mother at the counter. He sets the Gatorade down and decisively says, “chocolate glazed,” while looking forward at the doughnuts, which are arranged in three large columns with four rows each, the doughnuts lined tightly together on metal racks, slanted downward for customers to view with ease and visual appeal—the pink frosting, the rainbow sugar sprinkles, the tiny chopped nuts, the maple syrup frosting, the sugar glaze on light cake donuts, dense sourdough, and fluffy French crullers, the chocolate frosting on chocolate fried dough, the red, purple, clear yellow jellies oozing out from inside sticks of fried dough. The mother does not turn towards her son, but replies, scanning, “Chocolate glazed… let’s see…Ok.” She has spotted the chocolate glazed donuts, so then indicates the choice to the cashier without hesitation.
The cashier takes a thin white paper tissue, picks up the desired doughnut, and puts the doughnut into a brown paper bag, folding the top of the bag over two times. The mother grabs the bag and a coffee she must have ordered in a quick and quiet voice, while the boy clutches his Gatorade. The mother hands the clerk a small plastic card to pay for the goods, and then the two turn and leave the store. They get into their large red SUV that gleams in the bright sun, driving off in a direction I cannot see.
It is into the store, into the bathroom, straight to the ordering counter, into the bag, out of the bag, into the body. There, in and out of the body, in and out of the car, in and out of the mind, from the cold of the cooler or the doughnut racks to the room temperature of the store, to the heat of the throat and stomach and blood to the intestines or bladder and out again into the bathroom into the toilet and flushed through the pipes, out to the water, into the treatment plant, back to the faucet or shower, the dirt on and off the body, in and out of the holes of the body...
...the stores, the cars, the food, the toilets, the talking, the taking, the motioning, the signaling, the swiping, the paying, giving and taking, sopping and wasting.
In a day, every day, it is done and done, a couple minutes here, another exchange there, at home eating lunch, drinking coffees, drinking water, drinking lemonade, eating crackers, snacks of chips and ice cream because it’s hot and it’s summer and it’s America and it’s available and on display, signs saying to us in the boldest, most exciting colors, “yes, yes take and eat, gather up goods, store up life points, something to do; yes, then process, use, expel what you want or need to make room for the same goods again, or different new goods, or don’t use the goods, just keep them until they break or expire, throw them away to gather in a public landfill heap or leave them in your garage to gather in a personal home heap, forget about the old things just enough so you want new things, and enter another store and get what you need, buy away.”
Perhaps take a moment and watch today.
It is for your viewing:
The mother goes to relieve herself in the bathroom while her son approaches the counter and looks at the signs. One sign shows frozen “Coolatta” drinks in neon colors, blue, orange, yellow. “New!” it reads. Another sign has a white star in the center of a blue and red target, with a large red Coolatta proudly displayed alone in the foreground. “The Coolest Way To Be A Hero… New! Cherry Flavor.” It’s the popular Captain America logo.
The son is about ten years old. He waits, appearing to scan the signs. There is an oversized white coffee mug with a dollar sticking out, for tips. The boy fidgets and turns to look at the soda and drink cooler. In a moment, he turns back and leans against the counter. The clerk has not approached him to ask if he needs assistance.His mother returns from the Women’s Room, straightening her shirt, and the clerk swiftly approaches. The mother and son are both overweight. The mother picks at the front of her pant leg to loosen it from her thigh while her gaze remains fixed on the menu.
The boy opens the cooler and reaches his hand inside to take an orange Gatorade drink, then stands next to his mother at the counter. He sets the Gatorade down and decisively says, “chocolate glazed,” while looking forward at the doughnuts, which are arranged in three large columns with four rows each, the doughnuts lined tightly together on metal racks, slanted downward for customers to view with ease and visual appeal—the pink frosting, the rainbow sugar sprinkles, the tiny chopped nuts, the maple syrup frosting, the sugar glaze on light cake donuts, dense sourdough, and fluffy French crullers, the chocolate frosting on chocolate fried dough, the red, purple, clear yellow jellies oozing out from inside sticks of fried dough. The mother does not turn towards her son, but replies, scanning, “Chocolate glazed… let’s see…Ok.” She has spotted the chocolate glazed donuts, so then indicates the choice to the cashier without hesitation.
The cashier takes a thin white paper tissue, picks up the desired doughnut, and puts the doughnut into a brown paper bag, folding the top of the bag over two times. The mother grabs the bag and a coffee she must have ordered in a quick and quiet voice, while the boy clutches his Gatorade. The mother hands the clerk a small plastic card to pay for the goods, and then the two turn and leave the store. They get into their large red SUV that gleams in the bright sun, driving off in a direction I cannot see.
It is into the store, into the bathroom, straight to the ordering counter, into the bag, out of the bag, into the body. There, in and out of the body, in and out of the car, in and out of the mind, from the cold of the cooler or the doughnut racks to the room temperature of the store, to the heat of the throat and stomach and blood to the intestines or bladder and out again into the bathroom into the toilet and flushed through the pipes, out to the water, into the treatment plant, back to the faucet or shower, the dirt on and off the body, in and out of the holes of the body...
...the stores, the cars, the food, the toilets, the talking, the taking, the motioning, the signaling, the swiping, the paying, giving and taking, sopping and wasting.
In a day, every day, it is done and done, a couple minutes here, another exchange there, at home eating lunch, drinking coffees, drinking water, drinking lemonade, eating crackers, snacks of chips and ice cream because it’s hot and it’s summer and it’s America and it’s available and on display, signs saying to us in the boldest, most exciting colors, “yes, yes take and eat, gather up goods, store up life points, something to do; yes, then process, use, expel what you want or need to make room for the same goods again, or different new goods, or don’t use the goods, just keep them until they break or expire, throw them away to gather in a public landfill heap or leave them in your garage to gather in a personal home heap, forget about the old things just enough so you want new things, and enter another store and get what you need, buy away.”
Perhaps take a moment and watch today.
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