One day I’ll fly away is printed on the back of her t-shirt. She wears it tucked into a pair of indigo denim jeans with red stitching on the pockets, cuffs and seams, and carries a green canvas tote bag over her right shoulder.
I watch her fill a shopping basket with apples, berries and nectarines. As she reaches for the fruit alphabet charms around her wrist catch the light and reveal her initials or perhaps a favourite destination.
I follow as she winds her way through the shopping aisles. Her barely there gold sandals make a ‘scuff’ sound on the floor and expose a lighting bolt tattoo on her left foot.
Someone calls for a clean-up in aisle five. We lose each other here amongst the tightly packed shelves of biscuits and preserves. There’s raspberry jam all over the floor as Hot Chocolate starts to play, “Every 1’s a Winner (baby)”.
I see her again when I’m daydreaming at the self-service checkout. She walks out of the Supermarket and into the arms of a tall, slender man wearing red Wayfarers and a welcoming smile. They kiss each other’s cheeks European style, they are friends not lovers I decide.
She hands him her green canvas tote bag filled with apples, berries and nectarines. Then they wander down the road slowly until they are hazy shapes that disappear into the midday sun.
Image: Alex Nataf-Taghizadeh for Unconditional Magazine, November 2017
There's a lot going on up here 