observation #3

Empty Chairs and Empty Tables, 

covered in the drops of rain that fell earlier that morning. Orange and white plastic, sitting, waiting, for a customer to come by, for the interaction of a human body. Click. I took a picture. One of the saddest pictures I had ever taken.

In summer, the line of bodies waiting for a place would wind around the corner, past the post-office and into the nearby park, the waitresses smiling as they suggested, “It might be up to a forty-five minute wait. Sorry!” Now there was no one. Not a single soul in this ghost town of fallen leaves and wind and pitter-patter. No one but me on my way home, stopping to observe and think.

Whoosh. The sound of a V-Line charging forward. Beep. A car honking its horn somewhere in the distance. Ding. My phone alerting me of a new message.