High Noon
We go down to the greasy little shop behind our building to catch some lunchtime sun, maybe catch a little drug deal going down. The shop attracts a strange mix of customers. Suits sitting at the tables with jam donuts and Important Documents; unsavory types pacing barefoot along the side of the road.
The phone booth is where it all happens. It's the busiest phone booth in town. You can hear them shouting down the line, "Yeah I'm at the phone booth! Five minutes? Okay! Hurry!"
I have a greasy chicken wrap that I regret before even the first bite, she has a salad roll.
"So have you heard any more news?"
"Bloody hell, I said no onions. Now my breath will be feral all afternoon."
"Bugger."
"Anyway, nothing concrete yet. But I think it's safe to say that our jobs are unsafe."
A car pulls up and a girl with long spaghetti limbs jumps out, runs over to the phone booth and starts tapping on the door.
"But you know that neither of us belong here, we don't want to be here. Maybe it'll be the kick in the butt we both need."
"True."
"Don't worry, honest. You don't have to look so bloody scared."
A car comes rattling down the street, thick smoke pouring out the back, every door a different colour of blistered paint. It lurches to a stop opposite the phone booth. Steam starts spewing out from under the bonnet.
A tiny barefoot woman gets out with a big bottle of water. There's sizzle and spit as she pours it in. Spaghetti girl runs across the street and pokes her head inside the car, chatting to someone inside. We try to be subtle about watching as the water starts dripping straight back out under the car all over the road.
Suddenly the back window winds down and yet another chick sticks her head out, fixing her big wild eyes on us.
"HEY! AM I FUCKIN' STARIN' AT YOUSE AS MUCH AS YOUSE ARE FUCKIN' STARIN' AT ME?!"
"We're not staring, honest, it's just the water is coming straight back out..."
"RIGHT!"
She gets out, starts walking slowly and deliberately across the street.
"Umm. Is it okay for me to look bloody scared now?"
We scoop up our purses and the remains of lunches and try to look casual about fleeing back to the office. Now, back to fuckin' starin' at nothin' til 5 o'clock.
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wnp
skulking elsewhere
shauna reid my book?
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Canberra's sounding a little like New York (not that I've ever been to New York). I find myself reminded of Cagney and Lacey.
I was once murdered for 20p. Well, not murdered, but certainly threatened. And accused of getting the threatening bloke into prison. For murder. So, then he wanted 50p, and then a whole pound. I did not yield, but it did leave me feeling like I had icicles melting in my chest.
I'm glad your lunch time episode didn't turn out nasty! :-)
how do you know it didn't turn out nasty? i could be writing this entry... from the great beyond...
Ahh ... I used to live down the street from that Milk Bar (all of which shall rename nameless).
Nothing but a whole lot of fuckin' stain' at nothin' goin' on.
Memories.
Sigh.
Oh crumbs, I hadn't thought of that. But if you are in the Great Beyond, at least you've still got internet access.
maybe joining a convent isn't such a bad idea after all?
how much bandwidth is up there in the great beyond? cause virginia tech is holding back on us, and i need some ultra broadband to bring down the mpaa and riaa with my massive movie and mp3 pirate ships full of L337 h4x0rs and other swashbuckling types...
Good point. Shauny has certainly been a Good Girl and has surely advanced to the most holy of holiest parts of the Great Beyond, so she must have all the bandwidth she could ever want. In that case, maybe we have Shauny-in-DVD-quality-streaming-video to look forward to in the not-too-distant future?
Surely she'd win an extra special "Bloggie" for that. :)
my computer is busted right now, so im writing from my neighbour's computer.
yes, people are scary when they think you are staring. especially when you're trying to be helpful.
oooh, canberra has a seedy side. who knew?
i thought it was all parks and lakes and museums and policitians. and bloggers, of course
Hmm, your capital city sounds a lot like my capital city. Ah, civilization!
No, the blogs of the future will involve lengthy clips of people standing in front of a camera, talking about "how cool Ron was on Saturday night" while simultaneously performing a striptease, with frequent clips of nudity involved and occassional obscene gestures.
Seems like everyone is getting edgy about their jobs these days. Look on the bright side though... all that time in front of daytime tv... comfy sofa... sleep till midday. Mmmm!
Hey, I'm glad other people get accused of being starers, sorry to be gleeful, Shauny :) But I thought it was just me. The scariest time being when this wirey wired dude screamed at me at a tramstop. He accused me of wearing stupid-looking shoes, and said he'd slap them over my head til I was dead if I didn't stop looking at him. Death by Birkenstock. Yeeeeek!
So I hopped on the next tram.
this is crazy, i'm missing people saying "youse" !!