The Faces I see (Anecdote)

The Faces I see 

(Anecdote English - A typical day viewed bit differently)

When the alarm on my cell phone breaks the unpleasant news by churning out the noise that is hated by everyone and forces me to wake up, terminating my beautiful dream, I curse myself for not setting it for an extra fifteen minutes of sleep the previous night. The face of touch screen on my phone works perfectly except for the snooze button that can never recognize my finger tips. I look around and see no faces but the blanket covered bodies of my wife and the kids who invade our bed at some weird hours of the night. Getting out of the bed, I look at my spread palms kept side by side and touch my face with it. A habit started after reading a yoga article that is supposed to give self confidence and trust in oneself. The face I see first is my own face in the mirror, the face that I can never remember of any specifics but very easily recognized. May be because it changes every day and my brain fails to compare the current face with the previous day’s picture of my face stored. But I can tell without doubt that “It is my face” looking in a mirror even if I get woke in the middle of the night.

After pressing the remote control to close the garage door, waiting and looking back for the head light of the car driven by the faceless unknown person to pass; I am on my way to work. Passing by the faces of the school kids, some looking drowsy and half asleep, few of them smiling curiously looking who is in the car looking at them. Moment my car stops at the stop light, by involuntary impulse I look at the cars and the people in it halted on my side and when the eyes of each other locks , I feel self-conscious and instantly the embarrassment makes me forget the face I saw.

The colorful sky in the east that facing me prepares to display the magnificent rising Sun makes me look for my phone to record the video of the moment the sun comes out behind the trees. The hills and the buildings block my view and in disappointment I continue my ride passing very many faces. While driving through the wooded area near my work, the face of the deer so pitiful fills my mind. The moments it hit my car and then disappeared flashes in my brain. In my mind I ask myself “Did that deer die or is it still alive?” I force myself to believe that it is still alive and working as a Deer Safety Patrol Office for the deer community in that area, educating and guiding all it’s constituents in it’s jurisdiction to be safe while crossing the road. I am sure it also will tell them it is not really their fault, but the humans who encroached their habitat in the name of civilization and urban development are the real culprits. After passing few faces indulged in makeup I raise to stay ahead of the tobacco inhaling faces in paranoia, avoiding the cigarette butt blazing my car from the leaked oil, in the road. At the end I reach the automatic faceless security gate that rise to welcome me with all the respect I deserve. Far from the gate, setting my eye on the closest parking spot with the least walk to the building, I aim my car to my destined target like an arrow to the bull’s eye. From nowhere a car comes and puts the break in my dream spot and the dismal look he gives me will make me remember that face for a long time storing it in my very short term memory cells. The faces at work, same every day moving around in the hallways, break room, meetings chatting, smiling are moving around like planets where the sun is an insignificant one. 

On the way home, stopped besides the chattering school buses and the tired faces driving cars looking as if they never were happy in life. I roll my window to let some fresh breeze slap my face that makes my hair stand up and my brain cools down. I pass the yellow light before changing red in photo finish. I see the face of the guy who ran the red light looking around and smiling like the crocodile wrestler coming out of the water with all the body parts at the appropriate places and intact. I feel like telling him to thank the guy who won the case against placing cameras at intersections, and then I tell myself it is not a good idea and drive eagerly to pick and see my kid’s smiling faces. 

The cheerful face of the preschool teacher and then the look on my son’s face asking, “Why Daddy, you came to pick me today day? Why not Mom?” hurts me a bit but ignoring it I ask him if he loves me and in agreement he nods and smiles at me and hug from him settles the discontentment. A little bit of consolation! The old man in the Kwick trip Gas Station who lures my son giving the thinnest piece of pizza that can be sliced from the smallest slice of an 8” Pizza to buy the whole pizza is the one face I try to avoid but end up placing myself in his trap all the time.