Someone I Do Not Know

You sit there in your lawn chair, in clothes that lack the crisp, fresh look of the outfits worn by most of the other spectators and that obviously haven’t been washed for days, like a homeless person is the most natural thing to see that a marching band show. We will ignore the fact that homelessness is almost an epidemic in Grand Junction and the surrounding area. Just sitting there most people can over look your presence, I’m sure you’re used to it. Maybe you even prefer it that way, maybe your only wish is to be unnoticed and live a life completely parallel to those around you, hoping that you never have to cross paths.

I’m sure you have many great stories tucked away in your mind. How you got your lawn chair might be an interesting one. When someone wasn’t looking you just helped yourself to one of their former chairs because God knows you need it more than they do. Who on earth needs twenty lawn chairs, for cry out loud. Maybe you have that lawn chair from your own earnings. Being tired of the ground and park benches you went out and panhandled for a whole day for that lawn chair. While the rest of the parkies got drunk you just sat back and watched from you new lawn chair, laughing. Your chair could very well be one of your last possessions from your prier life, that and the clothes on your back.

I don’t think many people care about where you got your lawn chair though. Why the parallel life you choose to lead? Who are you hiding from? What are you escaping? Is there someone here that you know? Does marching band remind you of a better time? Maybe some one from your past was in band and watching now lets you forget your current situation; an ex-girlfriend maybe; that special someone that got away from you. Nothing else made you happier than watching her move across the field, noting her precision and accuracy. Than you got into a fight one day about your involvement in her life and she gave you the ultimatum that if you didn’t come to Delta she would never talk to you again. You tried to explain that you couldn’t make it because of something that couldn’t be changed. If it wasn’t for this commitment you had made you would be there. Delta means just as much to you as it did from her. Unfortunately, she had already closed down and wasn’t listening to anything you were saying, your words became just like the leaves that fall every autumn, if someone would pay attention to them they would be lost in the beauty. Is there someone on the field with a shocking resemblance to the one you lost?

Maybe I have this all wrong and you really know a person on the field. You sure left really early, as if to avoid contact with someone. Could they be a child of yours? Could this whole situation be a product of an ugly divorce? You lost everything to that woman you thought you were going to spend the rest of your life with. She took you to court for every last possession you had included the child. It was bad enough that you lost the love of you life, and every item you worked hard to have, but she had to insist on that court order that would make it against the law for you to be anywhere close to your own flesh and blood. So at events like these you seek in to steal a glimpse at your child. Even though you know nothing more of them except what you can infer from the couple of minutes you have to watch them on the field and their interactions with their teammates, you are more proud of your child than anyone will ever know.

Whatever brought you here to the field at Delta High School I hope you found it. That for a couple hours in your life you were able to forget about the fact that your life maybe not be where you wish it was. Maybe you even had a place in mind to go with your lawn chair, another event to distract you from ticking the days.