LookingWriten by Kathy Pippig Harris
As I stand here, gazing down the street before me, I espy an older man in the room above the store, looking out the window, in my direction. As he surveys the busy street below him, it is obvious he is searching for something or someone in the crowd.
It is the middle of the afternoon as the high sun is beaming its hot light down into the city. A dry breeze has kicked up debris and dirt, swirling through the corridors of lanes and streets.
A man, his hand on his hat to secure it, is walking toward me, a newspaper under his arm and a young teenager at his side. Head bent down, the boy is moving forward, arms swinging in step with his broad stride, trying to keep up with the man.
Under a canopy outside the storefront, a dog sits. Happy for the cooling shade, he is content to watch the passersby.
Her back to me, a young woman stands on the corner, waiting for traffic to thin out before she crosses the intersection.
The air above is the colorless gray of a blazing summer day, and even the birds that give movement to the sky are still.
I have a questing mind and I cant help wondering what the older man is looking for? Or asking myself where the man and teenager are headed, and to what purpose?
As to the woman with her back to me, I can only guess if she makes it safely to the opposite side of the street.
And, whose dog is it that waits and watches from the shadows?
Before I turn away, I glimpse a middle-aged woman about to enter the post office. She carries no parcel. Her hands are in the pockets of her summer dress. Is she going inside to pick up a package or letter from a loved one?
What I have seen, will be, and is, an eye into the futurea momentary look of immortality.
There is so much life in a still shot, captured in a box. Suspended through the decades; it allows total strangers a chance to share that moment, clicked through the lens of a camera.
Unsuspecting, those in the photo could not have guessed that a person would be wondering about them, many years in the future.
A slip of time, sepia-hued, tended through the years, and displayedthat I might look into it . . . and ponder.
Copyright 2006 by Kathy Pippig Harris
My works have been featured in many online publications and in traditional print. I am also a weekly columnist for the publication Frank Talk which is distributed in several counties in the tri-state area of Michigan, Ohio, and Missouri. I've written four books and my fifth book, For the Spirit-Soul, a collection of my short stories and poems is now available.