I have this weird thing I like to do. I like to hang out in the parking lot of grocery stores. Any grocery store. I’ll do this sometimes when I am in a city that is not my own. Or I’ll do it in my city, but not at my local market. It’s mostly out of boredom that I do it. I like to hang out in the parking lot, or on a bench if there’s one nearby, and watch people pull into the parking lot. Then I gather data as they make their way into the store, like how many people there are in a group, what their ages are, their supposed roles. Then more data is collected when they leave, like how many bags they have. Did everyone in their party come out of the store at the same time? Was it a special occasion for which they were shopping, or just another day at the market?
I am the first to admit that this practice is blatantly voyeuristic and not without plenty of judgements. But I’d wager that it is a harmless activity. At least mostly. Once I saw someone go in and about fifteen minutes later come out with a monkey. That’s right, a monkey. They were carrying nothing else that I could observe. Perhaps they bought an item or two that fit in their purse, but no additional bags were being carried or buggy was being pushed. Just one person hand-in-hand with a monkey. The expression on both of their faces, the person’s and the monkey’s, seemed normal. They were not rushed as one might be if there was something nefarious going on from which they were trying to get away quickly. It was like a parent picking up their toddler from daycare. Just two people — or in this case a person and a monkey — walking together towards their vehicle.
As if that’s not crazy enough, it looked like they were talking with one another. This person and the monkey. Both, talking. Like a sort of “How was your day?” back-and-forth. I wasn’t close enough to hear anything or to really even make out whether their mouths were moving as if in conversation, but their hand gestures were clearly visible and precisely suggestive of two people — sorry, one person and one monkey — in a conversation. Then the monkey saw me, looked straight into my eyes, and smiled.
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