Alon Z / Art / Lunch break

Every other week or so I stop by Ozzie's fresh market, a grocery store located two blocks away from my house. In the past I used to go to Key Food while they were still open since they were closer, it was one of these stores where one may buy paper towels or dish soap, but not anything edible as rats would frequent the place as well. There are no rats at Ozzie’s to my knowledge, their fruits section is well maintained and I often buy bananas and lactose free milk there when I need a refill on paper towels, I even bought low sodium ketchup there once and a can of cannellini beans.

The way to Ozzie’s passes by the old Key Food site, now hosting a large mixed use construction zone where the demolished walls of the store have been replaced with a large hole in the ground and industrial machinery occupy the space. The place is gated and only authorized workers can go in and out wearing hard hats, but it is obvious to all that Key Food is no longer there. Around lunch time some of the workers come outside and eat their lunch on a temporary wooden bench or along the sidewalk next to the Blinky's bar. I’ve been to Blinky's once, but I can’t remember anything worth mentioning about it, I think that they have a backyard.

The workers don’t engage in any social activities once they finish the culinary part of their lunch break, at least not one that is manifested in a conversation or visible on the street level. Most of them stare at their phones with tired eyes. Passing by them I stare at the workers, my presence stays unnoticeable, I try to guess their ages and not sure if I got it right, then I realize that the bench they are sitting on is made from an old Key Food shelf, The last remains of once a mediocre grocery store that refuses to die.