f r e s h s t a r t

Thursday, July 28, 2005

 

Scenes from my commute

I'm fascinated by the way that we interact or don't interact with the people we encounter while going about our business. I took the el yesterday instead of biking.


While walking to the el yesterday morning: I’m waiting to cross Clark, reading the headlines of the newspapers in their boxes, and talking to my Mom on the phone. Suddenly I look up and an unkempt older man with a beard and a rolling suitcase is charging at me yelling “Bwaaaaarrgggghhh!” and kind of waving his arms. I step aside and cross to the other side of street, he continues to yell after me. Mom: Are you okay? Me: Um, yeah, sorry, you were saying?


While walking from the el yesterday morning: I’m walking down a side street, listening to music and daydreaming, when out of the corner of my eye I see someone quickly approaching me from the right. I tighten my grip on my bag and step to the left, and the person bumps into me and grabs my hand. I try to pull away and freak out for a second until I realize that it’s my friend Anthony, laughing his head off but admiring my reflexes. I let him know that he was half a second away from being punched. I couldn’t be too mad though, because I usually pull a fake mugging on him when I pass him on the street.


On the el yesterday afternoon: A man is sitting reading a book with a large box in his lap. He opens the lid and puts the book inside, revealing a stuffed animal, more books, and possibly clothing. He closes the lid and I see that it says “Kevin’s stuff.” I had to wonder if was it his last day at work, or was he recently dumped? Either way he was looking pretty sad. I wanted to ask what happened, decided that it would be rude, looked away and returned my attention to All Things Considered.

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