I was standing outside Taylor’s Music in West Chester on Saturday while my son was inside learning the nuances of the solo in Stairway to Heaven, I enjoyed a cold iced tea from Nick’s Cafe and watched the world stroll by in the summer heat. There were pockets of twentysomethings on a pub crawl complete with t-shirts heading toward Jitters.
This girl — not on the pub crawl — was walking along alone at a hurried pace. The look in her eyes said she had either seen too much of something or had seen something for the very first time and was deep in thought — sorting it out, trying to make sense of it.
Her thousand-yard-stare grabbed my attention enough to make me snap this cellphone shot real quick. She made no indication whether she heard the electronic shutter sound the phone makes — didn’t change her pace, didn’t flinch; no reaction to the flash going off full in her face. She walked on by.
I turned my head to see her continue West on Gay Street then take a left at the end of the block on Darlington.
A shadow distracted me. I looked down to see the iced tea-to-ice ratio in my cup was way out of proportion. Memo to myself: next time ask them to ease up on the ice at Nick’s.
I looked up and returned to my street gazing, East on Gay.
