In Films and Novels |

What are you watching these days? Or reading for that matter?

The other day I noticed a woman sitting in a secluded outdoor space, in between two stores in an outdoor mall. She was reading an actual book. Not a nook, or a variation of an electronic reading devices. But an actual book. I sat a few tables away from her and occasionally glanced in her direction, me mostly wondering what the squirrel that was inching towards her was intending to do.

Two things that I admired that afternoon. Her being engrossed in the novel she was reading – Conversations With Friends by Sally Rooney – which I had binged watched on television-Hulu a month or so back. The second, was the squirrel utterly unafraid to be inches away from her. Perhaps the squirrel knew her, I thought. Maybe the woman frequented that very spot and they became friends. From the corner of her eye, she looked towards the squirrel and smiled, giving the squirrel the encouragement it was seeking to approach – I can only suppose.

An hour into her reading, she finally stood up, and the squirrel stood on its hind legs and watched her until she disappeared from sight.

I was intrigued to say the least. Because my imagination took a hold of me and next thing I knew I was forming a novel in my head…