|
 | |||
| Lopez Island | Orcas Island | Visitor's Guide | ||
| Email this page to a friend | ||
| ||||||||||||||||
DAVID BENTLEY'S WEEKLY COLUMN |
Previous
|
|
THE LOSER'S BENCH
On Friday night I was to meet a friend for dinner. She's a retail clerk, and has to close the shop at the end of the day. We had decided to rendezvous at the restaurant, but I finished my errands early and decided to kill some time before going there. I found an empty bench at a busy intersection between my friend's store and the restaurant. There was no way she could get past me without being seen. So I sat down to watch the world go by. There were the usual jay walkers being dodged by motorists with the requisite screeching of brakes, honking of horns and occasional obscenities. There were also several games of "Chicken" as drivers jockeyed for the right of way at an intersection with five lanes of traffic and only two stop signs. Friends and acquaintances waved as they drove past, and I got to eavesdrop on various conversations between pairs and groups of pedestrians walking by. Then, out of nowhere, a car pulled up to the curb in front of me. Trying not to look startled, I stared at the tinted window as it began to slowly descend. The driver was a fellow jokester, and I waited for the insult. It came quickly as my friend shouted, "Hey, don't you know that's the loser's bench?" I smiled and nodded as the driver laughed, rolled up the window, and drove away. Watching my dinner companion strolling up the sidewalk, I thought about what had just happened. I sit on the bench in front of the drug store and any number of people stop, sit down, and chat with me. Yet I sit on the bench at this busy intersection and I'm on the "loser's bench." I wondered how many strangers passing by had labeled me a loser merely for sitting on this particular bench. Then I greeted my friend and went to dinner.
|
|
|
SAN JUAN ISLANDER © 2008 |
|
