By Duane Anderson
PROMPT—No one noticed ...
The video board displayed that the NYSE was down 10.90 points the NASDAQ was down 12.68 and the S&P 500 was up .076. Everything showed the same increase or decrease this morning, this afternoon, all day long. Other items also remained the same.
The same results showed for the price of corn oats, soybeans, and wheat. Corn and wheat were up, oats and soybeans were down. The price of copper, gold, palladium, platinum and silver also remained the same amount all day long. Their prices all remained down. The Australian dollar, British pound, Euro, Japanese yen and Swiss franc also remained the same. The British pound was down, the other currencies were up.
The month, day, and year stayed the same, though somehow, I knew the date would not change until tomorrow when I first glanced at the board. The only thing that changed on the video board was the time of day, and if I stayed long enough I knew that even the time would repeat itself. After some time, I figured out the video board did not get live updates throughout the day. Everything remained the same. Even the insects on the floor along the wall remained still, dead still. Any change on the board would have been something to keep me entertained as I waited for the next donor to show up for their appointment at the blood drive. Instead, I watched the tree branches moving, the flags waving from the strong east winds, and watched the cars and trucks go by as I looked out the window. I was bored having finished reading the last pages of the book I had brought along and had nothing to else to do. Everything was frozen, except my mind. It was still wandering in a place where parts of time stood still.
Duane Anderson currently lives in La Vista, NE. He has had poems published in Fine Lines, Cholla Needles, and several other publications. He is the author of Yes, I Must Admit We Are Neighbors (Cyberwit.net, 2021) and On the Corner of Walk and Don’t Walk (Pacific Poetry Press, 2021).