Cool On The Exterior, Warm Within
Incident On The Train
Tuesday, March 28, 2006 @ 11:42 PM
Sometimes, the weirdest things happens at the most unexpected times.
Two men were flanking one corner of the doorway on the train, forming a small arc in front of a girl who was leaning against the glass panel, nonchalantly sms-ing on her mobile. Dressed in casual shirts and pants, the men carried big bags of groceries. One of the men leaned heavily against his arm on the metal pole and then gradually... got unsteady on his feet. He swayed about and his companion reached out to grab him as he flopped forward, almost landing on the girl, who looked up, startled.
For the first time during her journey, the girl realised that she was not in a good position and shifted her feet uneasily. Trapped between the two men, who were both holding on to the metal poles by her side, she would have difficulty moving herself to a safer place. She eyed the swaying man warily as his bespectacled friend pulled him to his side, supporting his dead weight. Just when the girl thought she could finally make a move, the man resisted his friend's help and insisted on holding on to the pole again, cutting off her escape route. The girl sighed silently.
Despite his brief moment of stubbornness, the man did not seem to be able to hold himself up and required his friend's assistance once again. As his friend spoke to him insistently in what the girl supposed was bengali, the man mumbled intelligibly. She smiled politely at the bespectacled companion and inquired with concern, 'Is he okay?' Worry more so for her own safety though, than for the well-being of the seemingly ill man. The companion replied in Bengali in an apologetic tone and the girl smiled wanly, dismayed at the realisation that they were not versed in the English language.
The final straw came when the man slumped forward onto the girl; as two pairs of hands held onto him and her turning her head away as his lolling head of hair brushed against her lips. She grimaced and quickly relinquished her comfortable position against the side panel, stepping away to safety. The man slouched down on the floor, against the panel.
Pale with relief, the girl counted her blessings as she stood to one side. She overheard a couple nearby commenting on the man being drunk and all. But her relief was shortlived. Looking down at her heels, she found that she was in contact with a liquid flowing across the floor, coming from the direction of the man crouched in the corner.
He had pee-ed in his pants.
And I was that unfortunate girl.
