A day of sunshine on a frosty winter morning, I head out on the streets of downtown Charlotte. Wide roads, good food, tall buildings and a fine architecture, the streets were filled with fun and joy.
“Excuse me, Hi, which way to the Discovery Place?” I asked humbly.
“I’m walking the same way, come along.” She said.
“Thank you so much, I’m just a tourist here and I have lost my way in this cold.” I explained.
“Don’t worry, it’s just four blocks down. You know Charlotte is an amazing place to be, beautiful clean city and not as melodramatic as New York, you know… I moved here, 10 years ago, from a nearby town which is very quite and much smaller than Charlotte. You’ll get good food here, some great museums to see and if you like speed, there is this Nascar speedway right round the corner.” She said, wearing this brown winter coat, a laptop bag on her shoulder and presumably coffee from Starbucks.
We stopped by a bagel shop to eat, much cheesier than I would have imagined it to be, we tooka few quick bites and some more things to talk about. “This is exactly where my ex husband stays, I pass through this area every day, and you know it makes me reach out to him at times.” She said with some cry in her voice.
She takes me through a series of parking lots of the famous Wells Fargo building, probably to avoid the cold. “This is where I work. Look through this bridge, you’ll find people smiling, walking down the streets eating something, with someone or alone. Everyone has a story, everyone is finding something to hold on to in life. I lost mine, and miss him dearly, but you can’t get everything in life, and even if you do, there’s something you’ll always loose.” A moment of silence as she said this and our eyes glued to the people on the streets.
“You know I always believe there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, a ray of hope, a light that will guide you home towards the thing that you want dearly. Hold it tight if you get access to that light, and never forget that hope gets you what you want.” She smiled.
“Head down this building and take a right, you’ll reach your place. It was nice to meet you.” She hugs and leaves.
Just as I was about to leave, I see a man crossing the streets and the sun-rays guiding him across.
~Sarang Thakkar
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