I remember the registration line in the municipal hall as if it was, well, something that happened recently while I drowned myself in a 450-page compilation book: twenty rows of chairs, an aisle in the middle dividing the rows into two columns, twenty chairs each; the procession of people worming around the hall like an impatient serpent; babies crying every now and then; chatters of strangers asking whom they can lend money from for the holidays; eight computers located near the foot of the stage of the auditorium; two tables surrounded by five verifiers each, one of whom is wearing a headscarf which she eventually turned into a neck scarf to look more fashionable; and reminders that echo from all the four corners of the large hall on where to fall in line, where not to fall in line, who should fall in line, why are we falling in line, where the hell is the line.
I got my registration slip after 5 hours of waiting, and was quite disappointed at the piece of paper. It looked more like a scratch with one of the edges torn carelessly from the rest of its long sheet. The number scribbled by the floor supervisor was done impatiently, her affixed signature was signed as if she was practicing how to perfect it. My Mini-Stop receipts looked more presentable.
I cannot blame myself that I lost it since it looked inconsequential. I did try not to remove it from my wallet, but when my wallet bulged with too much unnecessary papers and receipts I must have stashed it somewhere where unnecessary papers and receipts are kept, which are eventually thrown in the trash bag hanging from the doorknob of my room.
Now I'm worried that if I show up in the precinct and I won't be able to produce that paper, I will not be allowed to vote - no indelible ink on my forefinger to show to the office as proof that I had to get the unpaid time off to exercise suffrage. I will go home feeling disenfranchised by my carelessness (a word i'm using liberally for the people who thought of the idea of just giving out a paper strip as proof that one can vote 9 eternal months after registration, and for my stupidity).
Maybe if I make a scene, like bawl like an eight-year old who dropped his ice cream, they may let me vote :-)
