artworks's blog post - New Year's Eve Day

A quiet, dark skinned young Asian woman changed seats in the coffee shoppe. She had been sitting alone at a table toward the middle of the room, but with obvious purpose she moved to a table not far from the handsome yet tired young Asian man who had been slowly reading the Sunday paper for over an hour. She aligned herself in front of him, facing directly at him. He was aware that she'd moved, but he didn't look up at her to verify her presence.

He had barely communicated with his girlfriend when she was at his table earlier. I watched then as the girlfriend attempted to make conversation, get him to look at her, or in any way pay her any attention. She was more mature than the dark skinned girl, but just as alienated. She moved around a lot, getting up for more napkins or to go to the bathroom, but he didn't stir.

She even threw a couple of glances my way, and she saw I was watching them. She'd look me in the eye as she passed on each of her trips out into the room. I smiled, she smiled, but there was no more contact than that.

Eventually the girlfriend thought of a reason to leave the shoppe. She had the most pleased look when the idea came to her. I couldn't hear what she said but I could almost read her words through her actions. "Hey! How about if I go ________ (look for that shower curtain or buy mom a present or whatever her idea was)?" He barely nodded ascent, and she was off. One last look for me? No. Oh well. Maybe she'll be back.

The handsome young man looked as though he dozed off while sitting alone. He could have had a hard night, but tonight would be the night to celebrate. It was New Year's Eve day. I wondered if he was always this way, stoic, incommunicative, not seeming to care. I wondered if he had grown weary of his partner's enthusiastic nature. She seemed to be growing tired of his laconic ways. But she didn't look as though she had given up on the relationship yet.

This guy was so attractive he probably got attention from other women all the time. It was no surprise that the dark skinned girl had picked him out of the crowd. But her attempt at catching his eye seemed very uncharacteristic for an Asian female. She sat at her table staring solely at this good looking, well built, fashionable man with so much hope in her eyes she could have been playing a part in a soap opera. It being the last day of the year she may have been desparate for a New Year's Eve date or to fulfill a promise she made to herself 364 days before, to find a boyfriend by year's end.

She stayed in the same position, only moving to sip her coffee, for a good long time. I don't think he ever looked up. But suddenly he got out of his seat, walked past me toward the counter or the bathroom, never acknowleging the attention from the dark skinned girl. Moments later he slipped out the door and walked away. I had the feeling he didn't want to give her anything to go on, and finally felt trapped enough to escape. "Good boy", I thought. Whatever his issues with his girlfriend, he wasn't allowing any other entanglements to make things worse.

The dark skinned woman stayed in her seat a minute or two after the handsome man left. I guessed she didn't want to look like she was stalking him by closely following him out the door. His signals were obvious. Or were they?

With resignation the dark skinned woman got up from her seat and left the shoppe. As she pushed open the door I could see she was disappointed, but she wasn't defeated. She would find another man to sit before and hope. After all, there was a new year on the way.