What Passes For Entertainment

I was riding the streetcar downtown the other day, looking out the window, following my trip with my eyes. We stopped at 9th and Irving and waited for people to get on and off and for the light to change. It was evening, rush hour, so we had to wait for about 5 minutes. At this corner, there are several news boxes. There was a woman who, from her appearance, seemed not to have a permanent residence, standing at the USA Today news box, cleaning it. First she used what appeared to be one of those green scrubby things, then she switched to a white Kleenex. For the entire time I observed her, she cleaned only the USA Today news box, and she was scrubbing and rubbing with gusto. I wondered what compelled her to choose this item to clean. And since it looked clean when I first noticed her activity, I wondered how much longer she would continue before it was clean enough for her.

I rode that same route approximately 24 hours later. She was not there.