Pictures

It’s 1974. The air is suffocated by rain and smells of smoke. You could smell the French fries that have just been made over at Big Daddy’s. Drip, Drip, Drip. Salty water falls gently off the edges of chairs and tables. They use the chairs as a slide and head down into the pool of water.  Children’s laughter lingers near the apple cider stations. They enjoy the feeling they get when the warmth of the cup hits their frozen fingers. They run back to their loved ones and pass near the protestors. These big people, in the eyes of the children, hold signs and walk up and down the dirty, gum inhabited street. The dim lighting illuminates their signs that read: “I didn’t give up”. The wind causes everyone to swirl and loose track of their dancing feet. Everyone switches walking paths and you can barley identify faces. Their hair shields them from the forceful wind. The wind sings back and takes belongings that were not held tight enough by their owners. Polaroid pictures, that were claimed by wind, lie along the cold floor. It’s not hard to notice that a descendant of someone who had experienced the bombing of either Hiroshima or Nagasaki lies close.
A man holding dandelions picks up one of the pictures and puts it in his fur pocket. He meets a tall lady over by his music station and rubs his nose against hers. As the man gazes into her eyes, he loses track of the picture. After some time has passed, a young boy is eager to grab the picture off the floor.  He is dressed in skull pants and wears a hat that kisses his eyelids. He brings the picture over to his friend who is seated around a pretzel station. “I’ll take a pretzel, please.” As the words flow out of his mouth, rain begins to knock on the street grounds. The car lights blind him and it causes him to fall down on the sidewalk. He rushes home and places his hand in his pocket. No picture. As he looks out his window he begins to see a girl looking at his picture right outside his house. He is furious but believes that the picture never wanted to be found and lets the girl keep it. She makes sure to keep the picture close and passes by many different kinds of people. She begins to overhear conversations that consist of: “ ‘were in love’ ”, “ ‘Oh that place is fantastic’ ”,  “ ‘Best sushi ever’ ”. The girl arrives home and finds that she has successfully has kept the picture safe.

Its 1978. The girl, in college now, decides to go back to the sight where she had found the picture. She only felt it were right to do this. She lies the picture down where it was found and runs away. An older boy wearing skull pants walked out of his home and was amazed when he saw it. “My picture,” he cried. Just like the girl before him, he felt it was right to take the picture back to where he had found it. The smell of french fries began to run up his nostrils and the smoke was so thick that he could barely see. He placed the picture off to the side of the music station. The older man looks at the picture. He puts on his glasses and notices the picture. He shakes his head and frames it and puts it on his counter. Its 1979. A man who looks as if he has been lost comes over to the music station. He buys a soda and looks at the picture on the counter. He walks away slowly as he begins to realize that this picture looks fairly familiar. “That picture.. is mine…” he says as he runs to the picture.