LCPL “ Write On” Winner

Loudoun County Public Library’s Write On Contest First prize winner!

Tillie sat in the car in the strip mall parking lot, waiting for her girls to get out of tap class. She used to be able to go in and watch the class; since COVID, however, she’d been banished to the hot car in the eventless parking lot. Located between a kitchen fixture store and cell phone dealer, the dance studio had managed to find the perfect combination of cheap rent and uninteresting surroundings. Tillie appreciated the fact that their rent was cheap, as it meant more affordable classes; she did not, however, appreciate sitting in a stuffy car in the middle of summer. A cigar shop and dry cleaners finished out the store fronts. There was no coffee shop, no donuts, not even a smoothie shop. She was officially trapped in sweltering boredom.

Flipping through a magazine, Tillie glanced out her window from time to time, hoping to see a cute bird or the stray cat she’d seen months back. Maybe an acquaintance would walk through the parking lot and she could exchange a wave. It was on the third of these glances that she spotted him. She wasn’t sure how long he’d been standing there…. maybe he’d been there all along just as he was now, stone still, wearing a long sleeve shirt and pants that almost matched the tan walls of the store fronts. The only reason she noticed him at all was because his sign moved slightly when a breeze brushed past him.

At first, she didn’t pay any attention to his face; she was too busy trying to make out the writing on the canvas. It was not unusual to see people asking for help on this side of town. She could have passed him half a dozen times already and would not have thought a thing of it. What was unusual, however, was a sign that looked like his. It wasn’t just the colors that drew her eyes, but the artistic quality, the entire layout. She instantly was struck and found herself almost gawking, both trying to make out the writing on it and genuinely drawn to the mini masterpiece itself. She was unabashedly staring when a slight movement switched her focus up, where she saw two eyes watching her. There was no smile in them but no animosity, either. If anything, she would have described his expression as void of emotion, but he didn’t come across as cold. Instead, it was almost as if he were waiting for her.

Startled by the unexpected eye-contact, she quickly looked down at her lap and made a show of how interested she was in the fancy mac and cheese recipe on the page in front of her. A few minutes later, she side-eyed him to see if the man was still looking at her. He was not. The sign, however, was.

After a few moments, curiosity outweighed courtesy, and she decided it was more important to her to read the painting than it was to pretend that she didn’t care. As she continued to stare at it, determinedly avoiding looking at the artist, she finally made out a few words: “YOU ARE DOING WELL.” This was followed by another sentence she couldn’t quite read. She was pretty sure there would be some request following, such as, “….SO CAN’T YOU PLEASE SPARE A BIT?”

Story by Leanne Gibson Manzo

Continue reading the full story at https://loudouncountymagazine.com/words/