Behind the Magic

I live in a rather small town, but it has most of the things you’d expect from city life. Wherever you find a large group of people in one place, I sometimes wonder how this community works on the inside.
Who are the many people in the background who connect all the links in the chain to make sure that life in the city works?

A few years ago I was fortunate enough to get a glimpse of one of these links in the chain. These people are normally hidden, you never see them at work. 

Every Thursday the city cinemas change their movie roster and put the new ones up on the billboards. In the mornings you see the new movies up there, but have you ever seen how they get there? 

One Wednesday night a few summers ago I rode my bike home from an evening with friends. When I passed the cinema I saw a figure in the dark with a long iron stick.
He gently lifted the heavy billboard from the wall and put them on the ground.
He took the red shiny letters and rearranged them into the movies that would come out the next day. Then he put the billboard back on the wall. 

I was stunned.

Watching from the other side of the road I couldn’t help to detect a big smile on my face. Twenty years I’ve lived in this planet, five of them in this town.
And only now did I get a glimpse into this secret a town so often keeps hidden. 

I got back onto my bike and rode home, still smiling. 

You’re probably waiting for the picture of this incident.
But I was too stunned to be a witness to this secret ritual that I didn’t even take a picture. Maybe one of you is lucky enough to take one some day.

Welcome to Day 21 of 31 Days of Mundane Narratives! For the month of October I will be a storyteller. Together with a few friends we will browse the forgotten photos in our galleries and tell the stories that are so often lost in busyness.
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Author: Katha von Dessien

Teacher. Believer in the Wilderness. Third Culture Kid. World Traveler. People and Food at the Table Lover. Writer. View all posts by Katha von Dessien