I was watching the sun set this evening in the parking lot of the Long Beach Town Center. I was in the parking log because my wife and son needed to buy clothes for our big family reunion tomorrow. I detest shopping so I opted to stay in the truck to read the new David Sedaris book, When you are engulfed in flames. I am halfway through it and well past the point where I can simply put it down. So I read at the mall. I read in the car. I read on my couch while scratching Thor's flee bitten ass. I will read every free moment until I'm done.
I stopped reading because of the light. It was beautiful. I was watching the golden glow move across the parking lot, illuminating palm trees and SUVs in a warm buttery unified field of light as it moved. I wished my camera where handy., but I had left it at home. I wanted to take a picture. The light, the light was amazing. Southern California in July at sunset. Oh man.
My revery was stopped abruptly by the sound of thunder. It drowned out Art Pepper, who was playing soulfully on my ipod. Thunder continued to shake my windows and rattle my teeth. The thunder persisted and soon morphed into a beat. A Spanish beat. A Spanish beat I did not recognize.
A black SUV had rolled into the parking lot about 100 feet away. Its four doors opened while the hatch back auto flipped up. Four young adults jumped from the SUV and started to dance. The song, hell even the style of music, was unrecognizable. It was some kind of rockabilly meets mariachi fusion that defied definition. Except to say that it was loud, very loud.
I tried to get my grove on. Three of the four dancers were girls. They were motivated too. I figured if they liked the music, then so could I. But it was not to be. The music hurt my ears. I draw a line someplace before "base thumps so loud it replaces heartbeat". Plus, the music sucked. It had ruined my moment with a perfect California sunset and was giving me a headache. When the music stopped, I cheered.
The SUV and its energetic dancers drove away. I picked up Sedaris and started reading about his mid-life crisis and fixation with death. His life sucks more than mine. For some reason that made me happy.
My wife and son returned. I asked if they had heard the music in the store. Perplexed looks followed my question. Was it only me? How was that possible?
