Everyday Curiosities

As a writer, I tend to look at things in life a little bit differently than “normal” people.  Strange occurrances that other people shrug off or merely go “huh” about, have me spinning tales.  For example…whenever I see a random shoe in the road, I always wonder how it got there.  An in my mind, it’s never anything simple like falling out of the back of a pickup truck.  I envision someone snatched into a van on their walk.

One regular occurrance that gets my creative juices flowing on self-entertainment are buildings that seem to have a perpetual rotation of businesses going through them.  Every town has some of these.  One week it’s a hairdresser.  The next, it’s a restaurant.  I drove by one of these while I was running errands yesterday.  When I first came to this town ten years ago, this particular building housed a bridal shop/tux rental place.  In the intervening years it’s been a florist, a few restaurants, a bar, and most recently a hairdresser.  And that’s just what I can remember.  Nothing seems to make it in that location.  There’s nothing obviously wrong with the location.  It’s halfway between Main St. and the university on one of the main drags in town.  No reason why something shouldn’t make it.  I know my friend Zoe would mention the percentages of failed businesses that were due to lack of knowledge, effort, or what have you–and there’s probably a lot of truth to that.

But I find it far more interesting to think about the building itself.  What if it were haunted?  Some insidious, malevolent ghost or a prankish poltergeist that takes pleasure in ruining all the businesses that set up shop within its walls.  Or maybe there’s some hidden booty from a bank heist and the theives haven’t been able to get in to retrieve it and keep devising ways to drive away the businesses that come in.   I had an interesting little fantasy going about a voodoo curse as I rounded the corner.

My mom would say I have an active imagination.  I suppose I do.  If real life isn’t interesting enough, spice it up with a fantasy story.

What everyday curiosities get your creative juices flowing?

One thought on “Everyday Curiosities

  1. Not that I’m a writer, but sitting somewhere and people-watching does that for me. I especially like areas with variety, like a sidewalk cafe. Or, I like areas out of my normal life, like when I had lunch and walked around in Palm Beach. I was so curious about others’ lives!!

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