A Dominican Chair

The realization sank in after an encounter with a strip of asphalt and a ragged chair: I am being affected by life here in the Dominican Republic.

In the U.S. if I (and I assume most of you reading this) had seen a chair sitting on the side of the road, I would have either felt sorry for whomever had lost a chair off the back of their pickup, or I'd have wondered who the idiot was who left a chair on edge of the road.

Here in the Dominican Republic (and Haiti for that matter), it is common practice for people to sit their chairs on the edge of the road - but make no mistake about it, on the road. And of course, they must then sit in them doing nothing except watching traffic go by. It is almost comical to see them wait until the last possible moment - as if they expect traffic to detour for them - before scurrying off the road with their chair should two vehicles approach from opposite directions at the same time.

When I first arrived, I would fuss at them. But it is so commonplace that soon enough, I came to accept it as normal. To the point that often, they don't register any more than a tree or sign post on the side of the road - even as I am moving to the wrong side of the road to avoid them.

One day, I passed an empty chair. And it occurred to me, I hadn't wondered who had lost a chair or who the idiot was who left a chair in my way. No, I had thought, "I wonder why no one is sitting in that chair."

I am hoping this is not a degenerative disease I have contracted. But I'll know the sad truth should I be passing an empty chair in the road in my beat-up blue pickup truck and find myself thinking.... "Perhaps, perhaps I could sit in that chair...."