Morning all. For once I am actually awake and ready to hit the ground running. I feel like I actually got enough sleep and don’t need to crawl back into bed for a few hours. What a glorious feeling. It doesn’t come often so I must celebrate while I can. So I will do a short happy dance. Feel free to dance along. The song is the Scooby Doo theme song.
And now that it is through, it is time for a writing prompt. Ready? Then let’s go.
I think this might be fun to add in somewhere. I don’t know where, but somewhere. Maybe I’ll find it’s story later.
Wednesday, April 28th: I passed them on the sidewalk each morning.
I passed them on the sidewalk each morning. The lady and the sandwich board. Each morning as I rounded the corner she would open the shop door, the bells tinkling merrily as she propped it open. From my place on the corner it was the barest breath of sound, only audible because I was the only pedestrian and the streets had little to no traffic.
She was just a hair’s breadth from the far corner of the same street. I could see her haul the sandwich board out, place a small stool in front of it and sit down. As I walked towards her, she would talk her chalk and write upon the board. In my head I figured they were today’s specials or perhaps the sale of the day. As many times as I passed the shop I had no idea what it sold. It could be a clothing store or a jewelers. It could even be a restaurant or a café.
The façade gave no real clue as to its interior. It was one of the older shops with a paneled wood front and large flat display windows. When I passed the windows were covered with their night time shields and so I couldn’t see inside.
As I walked towards the sandwich board, my mind conjured all sorts of descriptions for her display. Somedays the descriptions paired with upcoming holidays and the appropriate sale notices. Other mornings I tried to imagine her wares and term it accordingly. Today I decided it was a restaurant and pictured an array of delectable edibles to entice passersby. From the woman’s appearance I tried to guess at the style of food offered. She was dressed as she always was with a long shapeless cardigan that stretched almost to her ankles and looked more bathrobe than cardigan. It looked hastily thrown over her clothing as protection from the elements and concealed any of her personal clothing choices. Her hair too looked hastily piled on top of her head. It was as though she planned to get the signage out and then get ready to face her day. I never really saw her face so I couldn’t even begin to guess her features and imagine what part of the world they might descend from.
As I approached she finished her writing and stood. I moved past her. As always her body blocked the sign and the information it held from my view. As always I glanced back as I passed. At the same moment, she bent to retrieve her stool and thus inadvertently hid herself from my sight. I turned away before she rose and reached the corner. I pressed the button for the walk signal. As I reached the corner, traffic increased and the morning commute began for others. I glanced back over my shoulder just in time to see her settle her stool, self and chalk on the other side of the sandwich board to begin adding the second side of the notice. The crossing sign changed to WALK and I turned away, walking across the street. By the time I again passed this way the sandwich board would be gone and the night shielding for the windows would once again be back down. She and the shop were my morning mystery.
Ten til Midnight 