Two Minutes in the Parking Lot

A woman comes out, arms loaded, fumbles her keys and almost drops them. She points the key chain at the car. Nothing happens. She clicks again and again. Meanwhile, the almost identical car next to me keeps beeping.

A man strides out, in a hurry, dragging his son. His little boy cries out in pain when his arm appears to be getting ripped out of it’s socket. The dad gets more irritated and gives his son a yank, which makes the boy fall down and cry louder. The dad pulls him to his feet, hard, looks around to see if anyone noticed, then yells, ‘Why do you always gotta fall down like that??’

A 20ish man comes out with a hotdog in one hand and a drink in the other. His mom tells him to watch out. It’s too late. Mustard squeezes out the end and a 4-inch long yellow streak goes down the front of his shirt. His mom says, ‘well, here’s the napkin I got for you – not that it’s going to do you much good now.’

A young mom pushes her bags and 2 kids up to her car. She first unloads the baby from the cart and puts him in his car seat. The toddler boy jumps up and down a little in the cart while waiting. His mom says, ‘Mario. You have beans in your legs – the jumping kind.’ And Mario says, ‘No. They are the flying kind. Or basketballs.’

A woman comes out with only a slender photo envelope. She eagerly sits down on the bench and pulls out the pictures even before she sets down her purse. She smiles and laughs out loud, then covers her mouth and gets quiet. But the smile stays. She holds one in particular in her fingers and lets her grip loosen on the remaining stack. The wind picks up and blows about 8 of them on the ground in front of her. One comes close to my shoe as I’m walking in. I bend down and pick up a photo of a little dark-haired girl. She says thank you and sits back down on the bench. I’m on the phone so I only nod.