Dramatic Lives Of Other People

Dramatic Lives Of Other People
© Surazeus
2018 09 12

Kathy pours water in the gleaming glass
and smiles at the customers as she turns
to walk among tables in the restaurant
where people eat burgers and talk of life.

"I have watched so many movies and shows
about dramatic lives of other people
that I forget how boring my life is.
I work all evening bringing people food
and sit in classes at college all day,
studying biology and chemistry.
Maybe I should be like those people in movies
who leave behind their sad pathetic lives
and go on wild adventures down the road.
Yet if I leave I will lose all I gained
and end up wandering homeless nowhere lost
then die somewhere in some dark alleyway.
I come back to work at my job each day
because I hope the knowledge that I learn
will help me get the better job I want.
Like an actor, I am preparing first
by rehearsing the role I want to play
and then I will step on stage to perform.
The characters in those movies I watch
provide templates for how I might behave
when I step out on stage to perform my role."

Kathy chuckles while bringing tray of drinks
to the table where friends share tales and laugh.
"In spite of my life being boring and dull,
I imagine myself not some bland person
but the great actress preparing her role.
I play no dramatic role in this life
but my mind narrates actions I perform
as if they are important to my tale.
The waitress who becomes queen of the world
seems to be the story my mind designs,
but I just want to marry and have kids."

After finishing her shift around midnight,
Kathy pulls on her coat and combs her hair,
then walks outside under the sparkling stars
to wait at the bus stop with no one else.
The red pickup truck with Confederate flag
stops in front of her at the lone bus stop,
and the young man wearing red baseball cap
smiles and calls out as she freezes in fear.
"Hey beautiful, would you like to go see
a movie with me, and then get some beer?
Maybe we can go down to Kissing Lake
and lie in the grass while gazing at stars."

Backing away and searching where to run,
Kathy shakes her head and smiles as her heart
pounds with desperate desire to escape,
then starts walking back to the restaurant.
Gliding the truck beside her as she walks,
the man laughs and shouts with seductive voice.
"Hey beautiful, I want to be your friend.
You have no reason to be afraid of me.
I just want to have fun with you tonight.
Why do bitches like you reject me?
I am a nice guy with a steady job,
but bitches like you are afraid of me.
I am way too good for a whore like you."

Heart pounding wildly, Kathy starts to run,
but the man in the red pickup truck laughs
and shoots her in the head with a large gun.
Kathy falls bleeding on the white sidewalk
as the truck speeds away into dark night.
Stars flicker in the cold indifferent sky.