From where you are
sat, you can also see the Departures and Arrivals Boards, turning over and
over: a thousand passenger stories told in a form that makes 140 characters look
superfluous. At last – does it seem like
an age? – the train you have been waiting for pulls in. You fold your paper; tip the paper cup and
peer through the mouth-hole to check, again, that you drank all your
coffee. A human swarm builds up behind
the gate; their footsteps raise a droning noise; stretches into single-file,
bursts through and fans out again. You
look, attentive for one form among the crowd.
They are not there. Perhaps they
are somewhere in the middle of the press of others also pushing through? But no, the tail-end has passed on now. Perhaps they were held-up, getting off the
train: a bag to pull down from the overhead rack; they’ll appear any moment, slightly
flustered, apologising profusely for having kept you? The moments pass. They are not there.
Imagine. Savour the prolonging of waiting.
No comments:
Post a Comment