LUNCHTIME

I'm at lunch, downtown, midafternoon, and everything is all wrong. Everything feels weird today. I know it's not me. I am not causing that woman at the next table to sit there crying. I'm not imagining it. It's not me. Though I DID wake up on the wrong side of the bed. It wasn't even like I was trying to sleep, when I got up this morning at 5 am, having gone to bed at 10 last night. I was just trying to relax and read, but I couldn't even do that, because even before it got light, the noise started outside, and not just the average noise, but the disturbing, insane noise. First the usual cars and airconditioners, cars racing down the alley, garbage trucks, then the motorcycles, but not just the mufflerless harley's, it's high pitched whine of those racing motorcycles, but where, exactly, are they racing? To work? Then there are the usual morning sirens, but this morning there are more and more, all the different varieties. There must be a big fire somewhere. Then there is the helicopter, it's hovering right up there where I can see it. What's it looking for? I look out and can see the US Bank building, there is no smoke billowing out of the side. But the sirens continue, the helicopter keeps hovering, so I finally get out my little radio. First there is the traffic reports, seven minutes to here, twelve to there. Then I hear sports reports on EVERY area team. Finally the news, and they say there was a fire on the roof of an apartment building downtown. It's not too serious, though, so that's good. I'm glad there are all the firetrucks responding and all that, but what is that helicopter there for? It's not a police helicopter, it's a NEWS helicopter, and they're not there to warn us, or help us in anyway. They are there to get the story, see the burning bodies fall from the building so that they will have exclusive footage on the news, helping their ratings, selling advertising time. The helicopter isn't there to do anything but create entertainment.