We live in a hateful society. Personally, I’m a peace & love guy, but society at large is looking for people and things to hate. Earth is a polarizing place. People take sides … on just about everything and in most cases it seems about even, liberal or conservative, hamburger or hot dog, Ford or Chevy. Lots of people are genuine in their convictions while others take one side or the other just to be difficult – I dislike Penguin shirts because Carl likes ’em.
He drove one of those big Mercedes vans, the ones with no windows, the ones that unless you’re a basketball player you can stand up in. No handicapped plates but he parked in a handicapped space nonetheless. He parked in front of Shelter #6, appeared to bathe in the faucet there. Big fat Canadian Geese used this spot as well, crapping every third step and as he approached each day he would scream, “Get out of here, you don’t belong here!” in a scratchy voice that somehow had an Eastern European quality. I wondered whether he thought they “didn’t belong here” because they were from Canada or because geese, in general, should not be allowed to use the park shelters.
One time, between jobs I worked at Starbucks. Actually, working would be overstating things. I’ve never actually had a cup of coffee (truly) so I’d never actually been in a Starbucks, but I’d heard that it was where slackers and caffeine groupies and people on the dole often gather to poach free Wi-Fi, posture as if conducting real business and discuss the metaphysical merits of the scone, so one day I channeled my inner hipster and went there.