It was another hot summer morning. The sun’s torturous rays beat down on me as I rode my electric shopping cart across the seemingly endless parking lot that spread far and wide in all directions. To my right and left were the painted white lines on the pavement that marked the individual parking spots along with small concrete barriers lined up to mark the outside edge of each spot. To my disappointment, this pattern of lines and barriers continued indefinitely towards the horizon. This was now my third day riding through the parking lot and I was no closer to arriving at any sound conclusion as to where it led.
Then I saw something ahead I had not seen since my journey began. It was a car, parked in one of the spots. The driver’s door was open and I could make out its driver sitting sideways in the driver’s seat and playing a guitar.
I approached the car and hailed its driver.
“Peace be upon you,” I greeted as I held up my hand. The driver was startled to see me but quickly recomposed himself to return my greeting.
“Many apologies, I did not expect to see anyone out here.” he said. “Peace be upon you as well. What are you doing out here?”
“I was going to ask you the same thing.” I said. “I see you’re parked out here. Do you know where this parking lot leads?”
“I was trying to find that out myself,” the driver replied. “Day and night I drove across this parking lot and soon I ran out of gas, and alas, here I am stuck with nowhere to go.”
“Mercy!” I said. “If you wish, I can give you a ride on my cart and we shall find out together. I have been riding for three days but I have not seen anything else other than this huge parking lot which seems to have no end.”
“Your kind offer is appreciated, but I rather like it out here. It’s very quiet and peaceful and I have enough food and drink to last me until the end of days.”
“As you wish,” I conceded before resuming my travels across the parking lot. The car got smaller and smaller behind me as my distance increased and soon it was gone from sight. All that surrounded me now were the usual patterns of painted white lines and concrete barriers lined up all the way to the horizon, leaving me no choice but to continue moving forward and hoping to end up somewhere soon.
MJBDiver.com 