I had elected to take two classes on Tuesdays that were three and a half hours between each other. I had seen it listed on the computer screen and it didn't look too bad.
3:00pm - 6:30pm.
'Hey I could go to the beach and take walks down the boardwalk and watch the wonderful ladies of Miami soak their bodies in the sun they don't really need cause man, their god-given genetics have given them all the color they will ever need. But that didn't worry me. Some women strive for excellence. I like that.'
I thought to myself. 'But wait a minute. Three and a half hours doesn't go by so quick.. It actually takes some serious dedication for three and a half hours to seem like a breeze. If anything the first hour could seem easy cause of the hunger that would most definitely settle in and I could spend a good 25 to 40 minutes explaining to the 'wunderkind' behind the counter at Wendy's that 'No, I said an I'd like an Orange so-da, not extra onion in my chili, there's a buncha onions in there already genius'. Shit. A hundred and fifty minutes to go and I'm full as a bear and I can barely move! I'm sitting in this car seat which doesn't require any movement but I feel the need to move but I can't! Damn you $1 Menu!
As the minutes drag on I find myself gripping the shinny cover of a daunting book named "The Devil In The White City", a book recommended and sent by mail by my mother who is an avid reader and if I'm in need of finding a great book, she's the answer. Oh this book has me by the throat - and the pages are turning as fast as these damn students leave the campus that imprisons me - they're probably thinking "Damn right I don't have to wait three and a half hours for my next class! I was prepared for my class selection! Muahaha" Damn them! First come first serve my ASS! More like... Ah screw it I'm lazy and I know it and its what put me in this god forsaken seat for the next 2 hours. Screw them.
Cigarettes sure help. Maybe.. 2 minutes pass? After that its back to the drawing board. What to do.. What to do.. I've put my book down being that after the 45th consecutive page read I started to believe that I LouieBee was the devil himself, but left in this one of kind car seat and not 'The White City'. But I pick it up anyway. Why Not?
Louie reads... Louie continues to read.. Turns the page.. Lights a smoke.. Read.. Windows down, pullin the smoke of my exhale in millions of directions; the White City is quite windy methinks. BLAST. Just a book. Then suddenly. Awkwardly. Unfortunately! This Security Truck comes riding up against my time consuming car and stops directly at my passenger window with a man who looks to be quite concerned of my presence here on his campus.
"Whatcha doin here boy?"
I let out some already pulled in smoke.
"Readin'"
Like he needed his magnify glass to find that out.
"You go to school here?
No I'm sitting here, taking space up in your giNORMOUS parking lot, converting hot humid air into tobacco second hand smoke that I hope reaches your lungs only if these damn windows behind me were closed. But hey, I like the effect it has on my exhales. Screw him.
"Sure do, waiting for class"
Long pause. NO, not a dramatic Denzel Washington pause that creates tension beyond belief, just that normal real life pause that has no business being there but it is and its right there in my own personal time wasting space! Wait - maybe he's here to cheer up a lone student who decided signing up for classes a minute before they start was OK and he's here to keep peace.
"Alright, you take it easy"
And he drives off. I keep my eye on that damn truck as he speeds off into the sea of parked cars. Them damned cars waiting for students to come back to them and allow them to drive them home. Only my car sits here to comfort my bottom and hold my pack of cigarettes that I seem to lose every time I want a smoke, yet its right there where I last put it. Damn these three hours have really put a toll on my finding abilities.
I turn my head from the disappearing security truck to a small dangling tree in front of me that nests birds in it that don't seem to give a damn that I'm reading and continue to sing their songs. I see this tree as a part of my struggle; its all alone, far from campus, nobody to ponder its stranded beauty but mine own thoughtless struggle. Its a simple tree; special. Seems to hang there like its been for years.
The Sun decides to take a break from its hiding willows and breaks this lonely tree's spell. It shines deep within its leaves which it inherits stripes of glowing fortune and value from the ground up. It sits there alive and breathing! The wind picks up and caresses the stripes of pure light to different angles that seek new territory only to find an abundance of new sought meaning. Life. This lonely tree is there just like I am there; to see its beauty when no one is watching. Life happens all around us when all is thought to happen by equation, or because 'thats just how it goes'. Just like the man that caressed my car with his mindless senseless talk. Yes. I am here. Just waiting and living.
What seems to be the problem officer?
(click image to enlarge)
