Two, maybe six hours

"We have a lounge around the corner"

Super... Thanks.

Growing up in a small town, we had two or three car dealers. The "lounge" in those places was the sales showroom. You had, maybe, a candy machine and a coffee pot that a sympathetic employee brought in from camp. So, if you had to wait for your car to be fixed, you were relegated to sitting in ripped-fabric chairs, reading outdated magazines or new car pamphlets, while listening to cheesy sales pitches.

Things are different in the big city of Portland, Maine.

We have so many car dealers, there has to be six cars to every person here. Some of them are cities in themselves, with acres of buildings and car lots. The "lounge" I'm in, as I type this, has a personal DVD player, flat screen TV, six soda and snack machines, cafe tables and yes, high speed internet. There's a couple guys sitting here with me. Neither are reading anything, just staring at the big, very loud, TV. Both have looks that resemble someone fresh from a lobotomy... Just as I typed that, one was told his car would be another hour. His face is still in a vegetative state, just a lot more red. The paper he's holding is clenched and crumpled with rage. The other gent is an older man with a checkbook in his front chest pocket, as if to say, "Here's all the money I have...Just give me my Chevy so I can go home to my 'Shake 'n Bake'".

Me? My sentence is two, maybe three hours. It's 2:15 now...I expect to home in time for Cinco de Mayo. The way this "lounge" is set up is kinda tragic. It's got a wall in a semi-circle, about waste-high. The wall separates "those in limbo" from "those in life", or as I like to call them, "Jerks". It's really like a holding cell. We're stuck here, waiting for our conveyance, while the Jerks are free to roam about, get lunch, go home to let the dogs out, go to Bank, have affairs...Whatever. Oh, and they know it. They give you that smug little smirk as they walk by, as to say, "Tsk, what a pity...Well, I'm off to the club for a Martini and a cigar".

See? Jerks.

My battery's dying and I forgot my power cord. I'm hungry and I miss my family. I guess that's life on the rock...er...In the "lounge". Maybe I'll watch the loud TV. Hey, it's the Discovery Channel... And it's a documentary about San Quentin.

Lovely.