The old man was sitting on a seat watching people go by.
It was one of those handy benches, scattered down the main aisle that ran the length of the shopping centre, for shoppers who need to take a break. He’d been there a while. He was sitting with his eyes closed. Not sleepy, just trying to shut the world out. Although he’d been homeless for some time, this was just one of those days when his troubles seemed to get on top of him. His life had gone downhill from the time he’d been fired from his job and his wife said she wanted something better. She left and eventually he lost the house. He was surrounded by the noise of the centre, the constant music, people chattering as they hurried passed; he was finding it hard to think.
He wished it would all just stop!
At that moment everything went silent, no noise at all. He opened his eyes. He tried to look around, but he couldn’t move. Only his eyes shifted from side to side. Everything and everybody was still there, but motionless. Like him, all of the shoppers were stopped in their tracks. He was looking at a frozen scene. It was a terrifying sight!
Inside his cluttered mind it came back to him slowly. His wish. His desire to have everything stop… and it had! He started to panic. What had he done? How could he undo it?
Then, there was the sudden sting; more like a prod, to his shoulder. He blinked and looked up. The security guy had noticed the top of a bottle protruding from under the old man’s jacket.
He ignored it. Instead, he said, “Move along ‘Pop’. Store closes in five.”