I sat in line at a light. Turning left. My least favorite turn. Looking around there is a good amount of people out, for 10:30 a.m.

I was glad to be second in line, so that my mind could wander some, and I would sense the car in front of me move when it was time. I didn’t have to watch the light. 

I didn’t have much time. The girl in the red car next to me checked her phone, laughed, throwing her head back, and texted back to someone. I imagined it was one of her girlfriends talking about the boys they saw while out late last night. They had gone to Denny’s at 3 a.m. for just a hoot and a pancake. The boys had filled the booth the restaurant. They sent over a plate of pancakes. Real romantics they were. They had all exchanged numbers and were hoping to get together for a BBQ this weekend. Vanessa, ( my girl in the red car, as I had named her) was interested in Chase. He had curly blonde hair and was pretty quiet. He seemed smart and she liked nerds. Just her kind of guy. She smiled at her phone, and adjusted the radio station, still waiting for the light to turn. What was she going to wear this weekend?

The man behind me in the sports car with the radio up too loud, wore a gold chain around his neck. Hiding or trying to hide his age. Probably trying to find a young girlfriend, maybe even trying to get Vanessa’s attention come to think of it? Gross. Joe was his name, I imagined. Thick dark hair and face needing a shave, he sold cars. He was probably driving one off the lot right now. The music changed and rap poured from the open roof. He adjusted the mirror to look at himself, then back, turning up the radio louder and grinning. Yeah, he was having a good hair day. And in this convertible, he might score a hot babe for the weekend. He had access to the hot tub while his parents were out of town. 

The old man in the truck turned to the right on the lane next to me, his bed piled high with metal scrap. He is barely scraping by on his pension. Carl had been out all day today. Next week was his wife’s birthday and he had some earrings picked out at the department store jeweler. Charlotte didn’t ask for much, but it was her 75th birthday, and she had fancied some Opal and gold clip-ons. Carl knew he had to get them for her. She had been to the Doctor this month and was told that the breast cancer was back. It had spread to her lungs. She didn’t have much longer to go. She was a good woman, and Carl wanted to get for her, anything he could in their time together. He could sleep when he was dead, he figured. Right now he was hunting metal. 

The light turned green and the minivan ahead of me drove off. Then me, then Joe and the girl in the red car. 

Another episode of life at a stoplight.

H.H.Rune