I look up and stare straight ahead. My view is framed by two slot machines. Between them is
about a twenty foot expanse of hallway, the hallway is covered with an odd leaf carpeting that
comes to us from the 70s. The slot machines are each the first a series - six on the left and
five on the right. Two women cross paths in front of me, slightly to the right of the center of my
view. They are old.
I look up and stare straight ahead. Smack dab in the center of my view is a pay phone with a
yellow handset. It rests suspended, not ringing. My view is framed by a canopy (veiling a deep
blue sky) that recedes as one perceives it, a floor of earth covered with yellow aspen leaves,
and two white columns. Two women cross paths directly in front of me. Their arms swing in
perfect rhythm, their wrists both sport colorful hawaiian bracelets, and their slender hands
combine into one directly in front of the yellow phone, as if both were reaching to pick it up at
the same instant. But instead, they both stop one second after crossing paths and turn to face
me. They smile at me shyly. They are beautiful.