| Happiness |
| From my point of view, everything around me is wonderful. From where I sit now, everyone but me is smiling. Whoever thought the mall's food court could inspire anyone to write of anything but food. Why is everyone so happy? Look at that happy couple over there. He's got his arm around her waist and she's kind of leaning on him while they're walking in sync with each other. Well, something must be funny because she just practically doubled over in laughter. He's really cute. Why can't I find someone like that? Funny and cute. Good combination. Yeah. Today, it's just me and my chicken nuggets. What do we have to our right? Ah, businessmen out to lunch and probably discussing this morning's meeting at their six-digit-a-year job. Yeah, they're laughing, too. Here we go. To our left is another girl, about my age, all by herself. She seems like a pony-tail and jeans kind of girl. She's cute, but a little plain. Pizza. I should have known. Well-- wow. She isn't alone. A guy just sat down with her. But I think I'd rather be alone than with him. He's got electric-orange hair and the legs of his jeans could fit a family of four, comfortably. I hav eno clue what kind of shoes he's wearing, or even if he's wearing any at all. Funny looking pair. Two women across from me are making gooey faces at their babies. The old man over there is helping his wife into her coat. Christmas is everywhere around me. Wreathes and lights, music and Santa. Even the Latino woman sweeping up stale french fries looks at ease. What I don't realize is that the happy young couple who were sharing a moment five minutes ago, you remember, they haven't been so happy lately. The girl lost her best friend to cancer two weeks ago. That doubled-over laugh was the first laugh of any kind she's had since her loss. Remember the businessmen? They weren't discussing a meeting. They were discussing the big-breasted secretary in their office. The one laughing loudest will laugh last because he got fired from his last job, two years ago for sexual harrassment and is going to be reported again on Monday. This time, his wife won't be as forgiving. The kid with the orange hair obviously has low self-esteem and only jumped on the bandwagon of freaks to impress some other loser kids. His preppy girlfriend has no idea that carrot-top almost blew his brains out last week. One of the babies over there was born deaf. The old couple has been married for forty-eight years and can't stand the sight of each other. Christmas sucks, Santa's fake, and the Latino woman works three jobs just like this one to support her four growing children. I just take a last bite of a chicken nugget, wash it down with a sip of Pepsi, and finally smile to myself and realize that life ain't so bad after all. written December 1998 |
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