Sharp bronze rays of sunlight reflected off the tall glass and steel city buildings down into an empty parking lot in front of a Costco, placed between them like a pimple among tense hairs on a woman’s arm. Her concrete skin was awash with veins of cracks and fillings and tattooed with yellow parking designations. Confident pigeons walked about her body in search of crumbs, unphased by the footsteps of vacuous customers on their way back to their cars. The December air was thin. Neon signs waited to clock in for their shift as the sun packed its bags to leave for the night. Puddles of melted snow littered the asphalt lot like blemishes. It had been a warm winter.
Rob stood out back at the loading docks passing the time. Men in bright orange and green vests passed by one final time before they too were done for the day, only to return then next morning and do it all over again. Their small talk and chatter kept this dead world lively, Rob thought. He took a sip of the hot coffee in his hand and burned his lip. He lifted his wrist to check the time and his watch stared back at him, telling him he had twenty-eight more minutes to kill. He began making mental notes about what he needed to do once he got home. It was almost the end of the semester and finals were steadily approaching, and brought with them nothing but stress and anxiety.