The Adventure of the People Watching

In which I do some imagining...

I thought about writing an angry piece about world events today but in the end, I settled with something much lighter. If you enjoy this experiment do give it a like wherever you saw this posted and I may well write a volume 2 at some point.

 Most Sunday mornings I can be found sitting in the McDonald's near the cinema I go to having a coffee and an egg McMuffin. It's usually fairly quiet at that time but there is a steady flow of people passing through. I like to watch what's going on and imagine the stories of these people. Over the last few months, I've been constructing little vignettes about the people I see...

A couple in their 50s walks across the car park, a tangible tension between them. Kevin is trying to quash the guilt after spending yesterday afternoon in Natalie from work's bed rather than on the golf course as he had claimed. He must remember to text Paul to remind him to cover if Hannah asks. Hannah meanwhile is actually well aware of her husband's latest affair but is conflicted over what to do. The love has been dead for the last fifteen years but there is a comfort in Kevin's presence in the house that she likes. It's just easier to stay- she has a pleasant house, financial security and a lovely Westie. For the millionth time, she holds her tongue and settles for another awkward McDonald's breakfast, pretending not to notice when Kevin oogles the girl behind the counter who is surely young enough to be his granddaughter. 

A steady string of delivery drivers come and go, branded cool bags in hand. Once orders are collected they scatter across the local area, bringing unhealthy breakfasts to the local community of hungover folks, filled with hazy memories of the night before and conscious that they are probably still over the drink-drive limit. The things these delivery drivers must see when these Sunday morning zombies stumble to the front door. The drivers whiz around in a desperate bid to get through as many deliveries as possible in the hope of actually making some money themselves. Every now and then a driver sees another they recognise and exchange a few words. I assume there is a community of drivers who regularly bump into each other at the local takeaways, a comradery coming from a shared experience. 

Shortly after arriving, a woman returns to her car carrying a large plastic bag full of empty coffee cups. Maybe she has a deal with the morally corrupt franchise owner who is siphoning off these cups into organised crime. Selling off stolen coffee cups to dodgy suppliers may not seem like the mob's most ambitious idea but the sheer quantity they are dealing with makes it surprisingly profitable. The woman sits in her car for a moment looking at her phone, awaiting her next pickup address from the organisation's logistics guy. 

A teenager is sitting with her younger sister, aged about 8. The younger sister is absentmindedly scribbling with the crayons provided whilst the pair are in deep conversation. They clearly have a close sisterly bond. The topic of conversation is surely tales from the new school year. Young Maisie is frustrated with how her new teacher is constantly telling her off when in reality she keeps getting caught up in others' troublemaking. Somehow it's also Maisie who seems to get punished despite her best efforts to behave well and the real troublemakers, mostly Sophie, seem to always get away with it. Older sister Olivia has great sympathy and comforts her sister, reflecting that every year-group has a Sophie and that the Sophie from year 9 was arrested over the summer for drug dealing. Eventually, the pair's parents arrive from downstairs with their food and the deep conversation is finished. They tell their parents quite a lot about their school lives but sisters get every detail.

A man wearing a Transformers t-shirt arrives with his four-year-old in tow. James is very pleased it's his turn to have Dylan for the morning this week. His wife is on football duty with their older son, Will, no doubt standing miserably under an umbrella in the torrential rain as her son's team loses by double digits yet again. Opposition parents will no doubt shout angrily at the referee despite the scoreline and the fact that under-nines football doesn't really matter. A warm McDonald's is a much better place to be. James fears though that his fortnightly escape from the horrors of child's football is short-lived as Dylan is showing a worrying interest in the sport. He insisted on wearing the Arsenal strip his uncle bought to the restaurant today. James can't quite work out how he, lover of science fiction and hater of all sport, has somehow produced two footballers. He knows he will be there in all weathers though if that is what his sons require of him. His kids will have a much better relationship with their father than he did.

A woman wearing a yellow hoodie is sat with what appears to be her mother and her son. Lily isn't paying much attention to her family though. A phone is glued to her ear, an old-fashioned flip phone, the type that was enormously popular around twenty years ago. She is not talking much but her expression suggests this is a serious phone call. The agency are calling to inform her she has been assigned a new mission, with more information to follow. She has the weekend to spend with her family but on Monday it will be off once more. Lily does enjoy her job and knows it makes a difference to the UK's security but it's taken on a new edge since the birth of her son. George is now four years old and she reflects how little of those four years she has actually been with him. She also recognises how dangerous her work can be; every assignment could be the one that leaves George without a mother. Her own mother would do a fantastic job at raising him if needs be but Lily fears that if she wasn't around George's good-for-nothing father would try to claim custody and God knows how he would turn out if that happened. The call has ended now (she will dispose of the phone shortly). She knows that for now at least she needs to put her work to the back of her mind and initiates a game with George. A keen observer though can still spot the distress in her body language, even if her son can't pick up on it.

Aspiring novelist Jane sits in the corner. Fuelled by coffee, she is trying to plot out the story of her latest idea. She hopes someone doesn't beat her to it. The crime series she conceived about a group of pensioners solving murders from their retirement home was great but then bloody Richard Osman beat her to it. She wishes she didn't have to work full-time in accounting and could casually take time off to write. She wants to be angry at Osman but can't bring herself to be; he's just too lovely. Jane takes another sip of coffee and casually observes the people around her. Maybe there's a character here she could use. Perhaps doomed couple Kevin and Hannah would be good. Maybe Hannah finally has enough of Kevin's unfaithfulness and murders him in an attempt to keep the financial security but lose her awful husband. There could be a whole mystery novel based on delivery riders that could both be a compelling crime thriller and have a social conscience as it explores the gig economy. She scribbles down a note. Jane wonders what the man on his phone is typing away and for a brief moment my eyes meet with hers and we quickly disappear back into our respective fictional worlds.