Tink and I sat in the lobby of the Peabody Hotel in Memphis, one of the South’s Grand Hotels. It was Christmas Day and for three hours, we sat on chairs covered in rich brocade and did what seems to have become something of the past – people watching.
An elderly couple tried to figure out how to take a selfie in front of the enormous, lavishly decorated tree. A young couple entrusted a stranger to take their photo in front of the fountain where the drake chased the four female ducks beneath a vast floral arrangement of deep coral gladiolas which drooped sadly on the left side.
A young girl, perhaps five or six, in a red bouffant dress with a green sash, twirled around impatiently in a circle while her parents and grandparents talked. A man in a tweed jacket with a scarf flung haphazardly around his neck repeatedly disregarded the sign that said, “Do not pet the ducks” and tried to touch them for the sake of a photo.
A Twist of Decision