Multiple Choice

I was walking down the street this morning and passed a Korean nail salon. There were two young hipster women standing inside in front of the racks of polish samples trying to pick a color(although I'm not really sure you can be a hipster and visit a nail salon). I tried to imagine how it would be possible to have a stranger give you a pedicure and not feel some sense of guilt and shame.

At the next block I went into a Dunkin' Donuts to get an iced coffee. The cashier guy, Bernard, was very effeminate and maybe from somewhere like Malaysia or the Philipines. Due to some corporate pressure and mandate he tried to interest me in a two-for-one donut special. He gestured to the rows of donuts behind him like Carol Merril giving the hard sell to a snowmobile or an all expense paid Italian vacation. I politely, and guiltily, declined. Everybody behind the counter seemed like their job was worse than mine.

It's a short walk from there to work and I thought about how I need a different career, and why don't I make my own iced coffee? There was a little group of sparrows taking a dirt bath behind a chain link fence in an empty lot. They were hopping around and seemed happy with no past or future they were aware of. I didn't envy them, but I didn't feel sorry for them, either- not for that moment.