I
After career day, I walked out of the noisy street and into a KFC. The warm, quiet light inside let me relax a little.
Setting down my bag at KFC also meant setting down the weight of being team leader for the day. The murmur of idle people around me, the lingering smell of food — I felt a wave of contentment.
I looked out the window. Lights pulsed and shifted; blurred figures moved past. I had an urge to reach a finger out and catch the colors overflowing there, but the transparent glass stopped my hand.
II
The people outside weren’t having an easy time. The low rumble of a drill outside was still grinding away, cutting into my ears. Blurred figures swayed — workers in thin uniforms, I thought, moving in clusters. Maybe beside them were young people in trench coats, bags in hand, walking quickly, not knowing where they were heading.
III
I got home and, under three amber pendant lights, shared the little stories of the day. Laughing and talking, I mentioned the frustrations and exhaustions of being team leader. I opened the KFC paper bag; the chicken wings and burgers inside had long since gone cold. Without hesitation, I tore open the wrappers, pushed a straw into the cup of Coke, and in the warmth of it all dissolved the day’s frustrations and exhaustions into the burger and cola, and swallowed it all down.