I IS FOR INTERSECTION
What to do there: Sketch the intersection. Write about shapes and signs. Write about angles. Explore how people and traffic use the intersection – if you can view it from a bird’s-eye view, great; if not, write what you imagine it would look like from above. Describe how the roads connect and how the intersection is organized. Find ways to echo those shapes in your story: a cross, a circle, alternating dark and light stripes. For added value, imagine the intersection’s history (you can do the actual research later); what was here 10 years ago? 100? 500?
“Ughhhh!” I hear my Older sister exclaimed impatiently and annoyed as she waits for her turn in this crowded intersection. I barely noticed her though, I was lost in my own world as I sat in the passenger side of her car. I had my headphones in and was lost in my music, my head was empty as I looked around me. I watched hundreds of cars pass by us, but it didn’t bother me. I was so fascinated with everything around me, I was amazed to how all these people could work in such a synchronized fashion without ever having to communicate, but still be able to get to where they need to be. It felt like I was in the center of a beehive with thousands of bees surrounding me working hard to make honey. Everyone had a role they needed to play in order for everything to work the way it should. All the roads in this intersection were connected one way or another. this allowed all the cars to get where they need to be. Some cars would zoom straight past me while others would slowly turn across from us. One second I would see cars going one direction and the next thing I know a herd of cars is going the opposite way. I soon realized everything seemed so perfect and in harmony because of the things attached to the tall poles around me. They were the reason for all this. The signs and lights reminded me of a conductor of a world-class orchestra. It was telling cars exactly what they could do, it would tell them when to turn, stop, and go. Without these bright signs and the red, yellow, and green lights that hang above us, there would be no order, but instead total chaos. At this point, I start to notice the blinking lights at the corners of the street. I can see a red hand made of light blinking, indicating pedestrians to not cross the road. I also notice a young man continuously pressing the silver button that is connected to the street light pole. I hope he knows pressing it multiple times won’t speed up the process. The white paint on the worn out intersection also seemed to play a very important role. Some of it shows where pedestrians are supposed to cross the road, while some more shows vehicles what lane they are in.
“Finally!!” my older sister cried out in relief, clearly she wasn’t as amused as I was. Hearing her snapped me out of my own little world, and I was back in reality. As we sped up and went straight, the intricate intersection was now behind me. I wonder what others think while stuck at an intersection. Maybe to someone else watching and observing we were just another one of the cars that were being instructed by a conductor, or maybe we became one of the bees working in harmony to create honey.
