The Queue

 January 2021, I walk into the streets of Brooklyn, hoping to reach out to a store to buy a phone. The breeze was cold, I could not feel my legs and I realized how my body forgot the cold of the city. I walk into the neighborhood that I am new for, looking at the people who walk here and there, all wearing masks that cover half of their faces. It is very hard to recognize how they look like, but you can smell the sorrow. 

I reached the store, a man from inside the store opened the door that was locked and said to me: "I am sorry miss, but you will have to wait here outside, because of covid-19 situation, we have too many people inside the store". With a big smile I answered: "yes sure, no sorries are needed, thanks for letting me know". I waited for sometime until someone came out of the store, and the same man, who is an employee, who actually serve the clients, came again and asked me to enter and point at a spot where I should stand and wait.  

I sanded where he said, I leaned to the wall, my back was in huge pain after carrying my luggage traveling from Cairo to New York. The pain was huge, though I was distracting myself by observing everyone around me in my new neighborhood. Clients kept coming to the store, seems as it was the middle of the month, many of them should pay an installment. Larry, the employee, did know many of them by face and name. He knew why there were there, and they greeted him. 

The clients made a queue outside of the store, some of them started to complain because it was cold, they wanted to wait inside. Larry was very apologetic and also he kept explaining to each one of them why they have to wait outside. Though his explaining was wasting the time that he could spent with the clients inside the store. He was for a long time serving two people, a couple, who just arrived to the US and they needed new phones and they had many questions about the procedures and payments.  

I changed my spot from beside the wall to a counter where tablets were in display. The spot changed because another couple was already being served by the other women employee. My moving was a winning to someone who was freezing outside and who got inside the store. My new spot was bad, as there was no wall to lean at, my back was hurting, so I started to move around in circles in my place to bear the pain. But the worst thing that I was in the other side of the queue that was outside in the street. The people outside, and I, kept exchanging looks, I felt for them, but I did not have the agency to take any actions. The queue was short, as some people decided to leave and come back later. 

The background of the queue was grey, it was mid-day, but there was no sun. The wind was bit strong, and everyone dressed in black. I could notice that many stores behind the queue were closed, because of the pandemic and the economic crisis, they closed. I can see them open and how the sidewalk was alive, now it is very quiet, and the queue was still there, waiting to be served.  

January 16th, 2021