Standing in a Queue

I have been standing here for nearly an hour, inching forward slower than a glacier.  It is too late to leave the queue since I will simply regret the time wasted. But to remain here is going to be bad for my health. I am desperately resisting the urge to get angry as my blood pressure and heart-beat will definitely rise. I try to think of relaxing places to keep my mind off this annoying tedium. It is hot, stiflingly hot. I feel the beads of perspiration forming at the top of my neck, gradually increasing in size until they cannot resist the pull of gravity anymore and roll down my heated back. Not having a handkerchief, I wipe my eyebrows with my sleeve, leaving a dirty smear on my shirt. The exhaust fumes and smoke belching from cars and trucks envelop me as I stand in a cloud of hot polluted air.

The queue inches forward.

Behind me, a boy is playing with a Nintendo DS; the high-pitched beeps add to my misery. Just when an all too brief moment of silence deceives me into thinking the game has finished, it toots back into life and the repetitive cycle of electronically generated beeps begins again. I try to block out the noise but it remains, like a barb in my brain. I have been standing here so long that the thought that the batteries will soon run out is my only consolation.

One more step of agonizing slowness.

Ahead of me, a woman is having an obnoxiously loud conversation on her phone, her voice synchronizing with the racket behind me. Her perfume has been abundantly applied and thus clogged my nostrils, combining with the heat to make me feel nauseous.

A shuffle in the right direction.

The muscles in my legs are beginning to ache. I stand on one foot then another, like a lizard on burning sand, to relieve my strain. My trousers are now clinging to my thighs. My shoes are too tight and my feet have fallen into numbness. I stretch my neck to the left and see nothing but a mass of heads. Turning around, I see that there is a lot more people behind me than in front of me.

Misery loves company.

Suddenly, there is a surge of movement and the queue accelerates to tortoise pace. I walk three, four, five paces, wildly anticipating an end to this torture. I feel pleased with my patience to remain in line when a weaker soul would have given up. But as suddenly as it started moving, it stops. Confusion. The queue starts to disintegrate. The crowds of people are peeling away. It is utter chaos. Then I see a huge red sign boldly declaring in red block capitals. SOLD OUT…