Had to Be There

To prepare for the holiday on Monday (and to put away every stitch of white clothing I own until the spring), I took yesterday off. Taking a day during the work week is always a lot of fun because I get a chance to spy on folks I wouldn't normally see, doing (or not doing) things about which I would not otherwise know. I started by hitting a national fast food joint I usually visit on Saturdays to discover the item I usually get went up thirty cents since last weekend (pre-Irene) and that on Fridays (or on the one we had yesterday), it's the world's greatest scarfing establishment since there were enough people in line ahead of me (and twice that number at the drive-through) to be their own small suburb (Hint: Super name for a band).

I beat a retreat to the same chain's other location across town in a mall we still refer to by the name of a discount chain that went out of business a dozen or so years ago. All the folks NOT in the first place were in this one. Not ready to give up, I went to their competitor, a two minute drive, which had four cars in the lot and three employees behind the counter. These are the folks who just walked away from their long-time corporate mascot because they discovered he gave people the creeps. Damn straight. And 'Zippy', who was behind the counter wasn't doing a whole lot to make anyone feel better about their choice of dining establishments either, let me tell you.

Later in the day, on my way to NOT pick up a prescription (but I thought I was) I popped into a delicious new local business, not to buy anything but to say 'hi' and thank them for opening up in the town where I live and to ogle their assortment of cakes (admittedly NOT in that order). Despite predictions to the contrary about the weather, it was a nice enough day and since I have a brother from another mother in Texas, David "Lips", whose area is working on (I think) over thirty consecutive days of 100 degree plus days, I'll take what I have and be grateful.

Hiking back up Washington Street from a sojourn to and through downtown-there's not a lot of foot traffic to slow you down (yet), I listened to a woman holding a cell phone on speaker explaining to someone, somewhere as she hung a high-sped left on Sachem well after her light had gone red, "I have to hurry home and feed my dog" who, I believe was in the front seat on her lap with his head out the window howling like a siren, working on his appetite, as all of this happened. And all I could do was marvel at the things you see when you haven't got your gun, Annie.

-bill kenny