Milk and Bread

The look isn’t hostile. It isn’t grateful either. It’s the plain fact of being seen. I’m in her eyeline, so now I exist. She’s on a mobility scooter, moving through the neighbourhood like everything else does. I don’t know what she’s thinking because she isn’t performing for me. Most strangers give you something to read. Rush, boredom, irritation. She doesn’t. My confusion is my problem. I want a story: brave, lonely, defiant. She wants milk and bread. She turns the corner. What made me assume her life needed your interpretation?

Listen: "Independence Day" by Elliott Smith – https://youtu.be/HM5Oo2rY59k?si=Z495SOBo0fNRckcS

Read: The Undoing Project by Michael Lewis – The Guardian review: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/dec/11/undoing-project-michael-lewis-review-amos-tversky-daniel-kahneman-behavioural-psychology

Watch: The Straight Story (1999) dir. David Lynch – https://youtu.be/BauhJIjn9Uk?si=eRkuyER_pdi7NDYJ