Monday 4 October 2010

Deep Blue Connection


“There's a connection between us, I can feel it.”
The girl looks as Londonish as she sounds, which surprises me. I've been travelling by tube for over 10 years, and this is the first time a stranger addresses me. She meets my gaze, which quickly makes me look away. What to do in a case like this? Perhaps if I pretend I didn't hear her, she'll pretend she didn't say anything.
“Don't you feel it?” She's starting to sound belligerent now. “For starters, we're breathing the same air, even though there isn't much of it down here.”
I look around to see if she could be talking to someone else. Though luck. There are more people waiting for the tube, but she's standing very close to me, as if we belong together.
“We're waiting for the same train. Are you going to Shoreditch too?”
I am. Surprise surprise. I don't want to nod because I don't want her to be right. Perhaps I should wait for the next train to get rid of her.
“Just look at you. You're all resistance. Fighting everything that tries to come near you. What's wrong with you?”
“What's wrong with you?” I didn't mean to say that. I didn't mean to talk to her at all. But she knew what buttons to push.
She folds her arms and starts checking when the next train will arrive.
“Well?” I repeat. “Oh, that's great, so now you're ignoring me.”
She was. Totally. As if I wasn't there. As if she'd hadn't been talking to me in the first place. As if I'm the crazy one that start talking to strangers.
While the train rolls into the station, I fold my arms too and turn my back to her. This is too awkward. I'll wait for the next train.
The last passengers are leaving the platform when I notice she's still here. Fuck.
“How bizarre was that!”
I sigh. “What?”
“We both decided not to look at each other and wait for the next train, and now we're the only ones here!”
“You're joking.” My voice sounds as humorous as a thirsty vacuum cleaner.
“Am not. I told you...” She spreads her hands in front of her flowery skirt – my flowery skirt! The skirt I made myself! It's meant to be unique - I used grandma's curtains for it! I look down at my lap to confirm that I am wearing this specific skirt today. I am. And so is she! “I told you, we've got something in common.”

3 comments:

  1. A fascinating incident, but couldn't you have got on the train and got off again if she'd followed you?

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  2. Or offered her a bite of my apple or asked her to marry me - yeah, I suppose. But we can only do one thing at a time, innit?

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  3. Bit Single White Female really. I'd run like the wind.

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