Snake Eyes

I’ve been home for a week and a half, and I’m still adjusting to Seattle. I’ve lived in Seattle for four years, and my entire life before that I was no more than thirty minutes away. I spent five weeks away from home and now everything I see is different. The people are less trim, the food is dense and served in immense portions, the nightlife is even worse than before, the laid-back Seattle fashion is now frumpy, everyone seems paranoid that harm will befall them if they look into someone’s eyes, and no one talks to me on the street unless they already know me or they are being lewd.

The only time my eyes meet another’s is if I catch them in the act of sneaking a look at me. After living in Rome where everyone looked at everyone evenly in the eye, it feels like the citizens of this city are shoplifters gauging the employees of their targeted store. Here, people snake their eyes over their surroundings and when they find something interesting that moves and breaths, they stare long enough to be noticed. The split second their gaze is seen and returned, their restless eyes continue to slither haphazardly across buildings, people and wads of gum embossed on the sidewalk just long enough to seem like they never stopped moving.