Tribute to Parks
As one who doesn’t have the luxury of a lakeside cottage, I am endlessly thankful for parks. Today, I felt it was time to take my aching lungs and tired body out of the apartment for some sunshine. I really wasn’t up for being around people, but I slunk the seven blocks down to Movie Village and Shoppers (it’s more fun to slink around if you pretend you’re a famous actor having a bad day who’s trying to get to the drug store to buy cough syrup without being noticed by the paparazzi). My goal was to return the video Ocean’s Eleven without being spoken to or spotted. After two days in the sack (oh, I wish), it seemed surreal to be out wandering around the neighbourhood. I felt oddly conspicuous, yet invisible at the same time, maybe like a ghost wearing a bright orange patrol belt…I had that feeling of slight shock/paranoia at being around people that comes with having spent a long period of time indoors. Still feeling like a hollow shell of a human being, I decided I would postpone my reintegration into society for at least another day or two and would take refuge in what is becoming known only to me as “My Park”.
My Park: quiet and peaceful, except for the nightly beer bottle smash-up and mushroom trip at night. At two thirty in the afternoon, I had the pick of the benches! As the sun moved and shadows gradually overtook the bench, I moved to the next bench, and the next one…A man in a plaid shirt with green socks rode by on a red mountain bike, talking on a cell phone, laughing. A woman and her friend walked quietly along the path behind me. There was a heaviness to their conversation, or it seemed to me. A black and yellow butterfly fluttered around on the playground and I followed its flight as long as I could. A wasp hovered around my empty juice bottle. Wasps are a sure sign of August.
I read for a little while, and thought about not thinking for a while. Still, the thoughts crept over me like the shadows on my bench, and eventually I realized I wouldn’t be free of them this afternoon. So, I did what anyone else would do under the circumstances: I went to the corner store and got myself an ice cream sandwich.
Posted on August 04, 2002 07:13 PM