The Scene

I reached my car yesterday after walking a few miles. As I settled in and started the vehicle, I spied a truck dart through the light traffic from the right lane to the left and then to the curb. What the hell is going on there, I wondered. It had been abrupt and erratic.

There wasn’t any traffic. I pulled my vehicle out and kept a watch on the other vehicle. The vehicle was parked illegally. I wondered if they were having car trouble. Maybe they were taking a call. Perhaps the driver and a passenger had started arguing. Maybe…well, I write fiction. I can get pretty creative with a scene with a few seconds of speculation.

A woman got out of the passenger side. Something was in her hand. She walked back the way the car had come. I watched for understanding. She went to the bus stop. I was closer and could see better.

It all clicked. A person was asleep on a bench in the bus shelter. The woman was carrying a plastic clam-shell container of food. She put it carefully on the cement beside the sleeping person and walked away.

As I passed, I remarked to myself how wonderful and thoughtful some people can be of others. Of all the things I imagined happening, what I’d witnessed wasn’t one of them.

With that, it’s time to write like crazy, at least one more time.