Observing the Countryside

Outside the large burnt brick building, sat a quaint shady courtyard. Being that it was two o'clock in the afternoon in the desert, nonetheless, people were constantly stopping by to take a break before walking to the next building in the scorching sun again. The small green tables each had three chairs around them and not one was left unoccupied for longer than a moment. The ground (dirt) was gray in the shadowy light and the trees a soft green color. No one seemed to pay much attention to what things looked like and seemed to be more concerned with finding an open place to sit. 

    As I sat at one of the three tables with a couple of friends, a young woman our age approached. She took a look around the table and settled her eyes on my friend Robert. "This is my table," she said. Robert faintly smiled at her, thinking she must be joking. Her gaze unmoving, she says once again said, "This is my table." Robert slowly turned his head and looked at me, half expecting me to help him out with this one. I didn't offer and reproach so he turned to her and politely explained that when we got there, no one else was there. The girl then answered him with," It doesn't matter who gets here first. All I know is that you better be out of my seat and away from my table in the next two minutes." I almost immediately got out of my seat and grabbed my belongings, where I stirred up a little dust. I hate confrontation and figured we should all just move to avoid starting a fight with someone who clearly needed a table more than we did. Though Robert did not look happy, he too moved. Unable to find another table with enough seats for me and my two friends, I walked over to a short cement block mini-flower garden wall. Robert and Ellis reluctantly followed. Because we had been booted from our table and were unable to find a new one, the flower garden wall where the sun shined directly and unfalteringly.Flowers no longer adorned the surface of this flower garden. Everything atop it was brown, dead, and crunchy. I could not tell if it was from the Winter weather, or if it was because the fact that we were in a desert.   From the dead flower garden's wall, I could now see the courtyard in its entirety and longed to be sitting in the refuge of its shade again.