About half way up the block, I saw this No Loitering sign. My brain, the kind that could easily be described as subject to richochet, noticed the distinctiveness of the golden capital letters on the dark red background, the brighter red border. I wondered if the font was Arial. I decided to loiter and take a photo.
In fact I had been loitering since I'd turned the corner headed for the bus stop. I first looked at the vintage clothing and accessory store's windows on the corner, slowing to check out the black and white checked sunglasses on the styrofoam head, then I walked a couple of steps and looked to the south side of the street at the variety of restaurants in the block, then I took two more steps and noticed the No Loitering sign. According to Merriam-Webster online that particular loitering fit the word's first definition, to delay an activity with idle stops and pauses. If I hadn't decided to get out my camera and take this photo, I would have sequed right straight into loiter's second definition, to remain in an area for no obvious reason.
The sign hangs near this door, on a wall set back at an angle from the surrounding walls. Where the key hole should be, it appears plugged. Is this merely an exit? Or a door that is only opens from the inside upon prior notification of a person's or a delivery's arrival? I looked up. I looked down. I had a Marvin Gaye moment: What's goin' on?
The juxtaposition of the sign and the door barely fit in my camera! And I still don't know what they were thinking. Do you?
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