Vignette #1

This morning I was sitting in the park across the street from my house. I was basically alone, on what could only be described as a grassy knoll, and was just casting my gaze around while I thought, when I saw this kid standing behind me, completely transfixed by a Game Boy (or some 21st century version thereof). I hadn't even noticed him. He was just standing there in the grass, in a navy blue t-shirt and navy blue sweatpants, outcast's mullet fluttering in the breeze, rooted to the spot, eyes and awareness burried in the screen.

He didn't acknowledge my presence at all, and every few seconds he would tear some fraction of his attention off his game for long enough to get his shit together and take a single step (or maybe two) in the direction he was trying to go. Then another 30 seconds with the game. Then another excruciating step. Over the course of about ten minutes he managed to "walk" right past me. If I had been sitting five feet away he probably would have "ran" right into me. Amazing.