Yesterday I went to the mechanic and waited while they changed a headlight bulb and the oil. They have nice waiting rooms: open area with a tv, separate closed area for kids filled with toys, another closed are for those who want quite. There was one man in the quite room, I joined him and tried to read.
He was at his laptop and sometimes his phone buzzed. When it did he would pick it up, look at it irritably, and respond. He wore a button down shirt tucked into kahki pants, and as soon as I entered he became the most boring person in the room. He needed to replace his tires as well as what he had come to fix, and his last name was Shaw.
A brunette entered the room, sat down noisily with Starbucks in hand, flipping open her tip-filled magazine. Her brakes had squeaked once. The mechanic said they were fine, that the sound was a one time thing, that he could change them but there's no point. He repeated this three times but she insisted he change them anyway.
At this point I noticed that the room with the TV also had free coffee, so I went and brewed myself a capsule. When I came back someone's stuff was in the the seat next to mine. Three self-help books, something like "Finding Hope" and "Putting yourself back Together". The man came back into the room and sat down right next to me (in a room of 20 chairs). He answered his phone Dr. Brown. He asked the mechanic to step outside the room when called upon.
A sever looking blond suburban woman, with short hair and a tall thin frame. She too was very aware of the quite sign on the door, looking over at me and saying 'sorry' after the conversation with the mechanic was over. Then she took her magazine and left. The brunette came back in, eyed her old spot, and sighed exhaustedly, having failed to find what she had lost, and left again.
A boy my age came in with a woman I thought was his mother until I realized she was his girlfriend.
I have two working headlights now.
In other news, Sima is very happy with the Halloween costume he picked out.
