Past Tense

Photo by Ankush Minda on Unsplash

I’m in a home improvement store to buy an item, I can’t remember, and I remember being in a store like this before. It was the one behind the mall, and I was fourteen with my best friend, and we looked at the fixtures, the tiles, the paint samples, and the refrigerators, imagining our future homes.

I’m at the mall, and I remember being in one just like this before, only I’m with my mother, and she buys me a Hello Kitty grab bag, and a box of Karmelcorn.

I’m driving down a street, and I’m on my way to the grocery store, and I’ve been on this street before, many, many times before, too many to count. Only the store has changed hands almost a dozen times, but amazingly, the setup is still the same.

I’m in a big-box store, and I’ve been here before, not here, here, of course I’ve been here before, but somewhere like this, only I was little, and I wanted all the samples.

I’m on an Amtrak train, and I’ve been here many times before, only last time I was going to Chicago, New Orleans, and Washington, D.C in different years, but at the same time.

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