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Dealing With Tomorrow
It was turning out to be an extremely hot day, it wasn’t even noon and the sun seemed to be baking the air. Everything kept an extra layer of heat; the grass insulating pockets of heat, the concrete holding the heat like a sponge, and the cars, baking inside and the hoods reflect and cook scorching and shining. I’m sure the little plastic flags were burning too, swaying listlessly through the humid air. Inside, it was industrially cold and the vibrating whush of the air conditioning scented the air with metal and open space. The windows glistened but outside it was hot and dead. The dealership was suffocating.
It was so quiet. He was taking his lunch break. He was a man in his 50’s with kind eyes; a checkered shirt tucked into khakis carelessly. The bottom of the shirt was already peeking wrinkles. He sat alone in an office lunchroom surrounded by empty air. He had a greasy mustache, dark coarse hair on top of a balding freckled head. If you saw this man, you would know him instantly; he was the man in the car commercials.
He was alone that day in the dealership. The lights buzzed a fluorescent hue to the quiet moment eating a tuna salad sandwich with a diet coke and chips. It was a quiet morning and looking to be a quiet, hot day.
“Excuse me,” a voice in the room directed.
The man looked up.
“I’m sorry to bother you, but I just saw your amazing commercial and just had to come down TODAY and check out you CRAZY DEALS!
The man sat looking at this strange story to his day.
The story looked puzzled, “I’m sorry you are CRAZY DAN from DAN THE MAN’S BIG SHOTS CAR LOT right?”
No. This was a man in dan the man’s big shots car lot that looked exactly like dan the man. This story was an idiot.
The man woke his face and wiped his mouth with a forgotten napkin. He got up and asked the story what kind of car he was looking for.
“Actually I’m just here for the CRAZY DEALS! haha!” they stood in silence as his laugh fell off the walls.
“And it’s not just me.” “Uh, I got here and couldn’t find anywhere to park actually, haha.” the walls hitting back silence.
“Well, not because of the lot, haha, no actually there are a few hundred of us waiting…”
Dan looked confused. He walked out of the open lunchroom to find the windows of the dealership covered in hoards of people. There were not hundreds there were thousands. Dan just stopped and look at the mass of people. He wasn’t thinking. He was just looking. He asked what all these people were doing.
“Well, your commercial told everyone to STOP WHAT YOU'RE DOING AND SEE THESE CRAZY DEALS… So, here we are.”
The masses where mothers and fathers and children. Friends bringing friends and businessmen on lunch breaks. Dan would need to address the crowd.
He got outside and observed the herd. He got up on the hood of a car over the crowd. He was silenced by the size of the masses. They were quietly murmuring to themselves but ignoring the man on the car.
He was a dot among Seraut. A shade or highlight in the mass of pictures on a Sunday in the Park.
He cleared his throat. “Hello, what can I do for you all? I can't get all of you a car today but I’m crazy to make a deal with you.”
It cheered. The man got down and went to a dot.
“What kind of car are you looking for sir?
It laughed.
The painting spoke, “We’re here for the CRAZY DEALS.”
