On Display

Standing in the window, I could see from my angle a family standing in the parking lot of a fast food shop. The mother was smoking a cigarette in sweatpants and leaning against their car. The father, in a muscle shirt, was miming a machine gun, spraying it left and right over the head of his son, who watched and laughed and clawed at his dad in approval. After his father had waved him off, I watched as the boy went to his reflection in the car's paintjob and squeezed his arms, checking the development of his biceps. I had a realization then, an image. I saw exactly who that boy would become. The radio to my left was playing a song by Soundgarden. Chris Cornell was singing, "How did I know this would be my fate?" I looked at it and a passing truck interefered with the reception, warbling his voice into an undulation. By the time I looked back, the family was gone.