WA-6 Final Snapshot

There have been many things in life that I thought, some were important and some not so much. When I set out to America to make my life better I thought that all of my previous problems would stay behind me. How was I to know that they could follow me over the vast expanse of the Pacific and into the big city of New York where the possibilities are endless?

Now, three years after my arrival here the city noise is a dull roar in my ears, my olfactory senses have grown accustomed to disregarding the sharp pungent odors, and my back has become old and perpetually sore from long restless nights on park benches. This was not the America I had come searching for.

Day in and day out, the cars rush by and create murals of taxi cab yellow. The people keep their heads up and walk with a pace that is determined and set. What are they speeding to get to? Their families waiting at home, their nice warm home cooked dinners, their fancy high paying jobs? Me, I walk slowly for what is in my cart is all I possess and Phala, my husband, always ambles beside me. God must laugh at him though. His name means prosperity and as of now that is sure one thing that we are missing. All of our possessions are contained in a 4x3 box on wheels.

It carries, two threadbare blankets, many cans picked up from the sidewalk or dug out of trash cans in hope of the 5 cent recycling refund, clothes (even if they don't fit, they can be used as pillows), jewelry that we purchase cheap and attempt to resale so our stomachs do not ache with hunger, and the rest of the space is occupied by useless knick knacks we never have use for but are too afraid to dispose of lest we find something to do with them.

It was not that we tried to really make a name for ourselves here and failed, it was that when we came here we were never really offered the chance. We came without a penny not really leaving us much to build on. It is easy to start from something and climb but when you start from nothing the first step is impossible. If you never get passed it, you are as good as stuck. Unfortunately, that was our predicament.

I am surprised that Phala is still with me. I am no longer pretty, my hair is ratty and has lost its sheen, my face aged with deep wrinkles, and my demeanor no longer as pleasant. If he left me though, he would have no where else to go. Therefore he stays and I am grateful because we keep each other company and pull one another through the rough, trying times. Some days I look into his eyes and I can see our childhood, the bright sun, the eternal happiness, and our once love.

I step into the street and Phala pulls me back out of the way of a speeding car. Of course it would never stop. Instead, it just keeps speeding through life, aimlessly going in a direction. It supposes its destiny lies ahead and will flee if it is not reached quickly enough. But for me, I stand still here in America, the place I had once thought held promise.