Signs

It was pouring rain.

I was under a bus station roof.

Looking at people come and go.

Letting the smoke from my cigarette twirl in my sight and vanish, not completely, into the atmosphere.

There was a sign outside the bus station doors that prohibited smoking.

However, there were cigarette bins right underneath that sign.

‘’Any change, please’’.

Across from me, underneath a door way was a man wearing a wooly black hat.

He had a paper cup and was kindly asking people if they had any spare change.

However, at the corner of the door way in which he was standing was a sign that said ‘No Begging’ with capital black letters.

Above me, was a CCTV camera.

And underneath it, drilled into the wall, was a sign that pointed it out that it was there.

I sometimes catch myself looking straight into the camera lens and wonder if I’m being watched for my safety or my sanity.

Then I realize I have places to be, people to see, things to attend to.

I put out my cigarette in the cigarette bin, under the ‘No Smoking’ sign, the CCTV camera, the ‘CCTV Camera’ sign , across from the beggar with the black wooly hat, the paper cup and the ‘No Begging’ sign.

Funny how those signs are there for a cause and how people interpret them differently.

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