SCABs

“At the bus station, there is…”

I’m waiting. After a day at the SCA, I’m sitting at the bus station, hoping to see the bus coming from one minute to another. I feel overwhelmed tonight, I can’t even bear my music anymore. So, for the first time in a long time, I’m taking off my earphones, and observing the surroundings. The time seems to slow down for a bit. 

TAC, TAC. A middle-aged woman is sitting next to me. The wind sweeps her blond hair, but she doesn’t seem to care. She’s in her bubble and appears upset about something. Draped with black clothing, her hand clings to a hiking stick. She knocks convulsively on the floor, maybe she tries to invoke dark forces behind her control or just a faster bus. TAC,TAC,TAC,TAC.

I wonder what brought her here. At this specific hour in this specific bus station, next to me. What links me to her? She must have come from work. Maybe her boss yelled at her because she fucked up a meeting with a Chinese company. She couldn’t sell them the hiking sticks her firm is making. She’s not upset because of the non-professionalism of her angry boss, she’s upset because of herself. She could have outdone the appointment. TAC, TAC,TAC,TAC. Everybody says that she’s so harsh on herself, but she never believes it. To go to the top, she must be the best at everything. But she failed today. TAC, TAC, TAC, TAC, TAC. Tonight, she’ll start learning mandarin, her Chinese clients will be delighted, and her next meeting with them will be the opposite of her previous one. 

IIINNNN. The bus finally arrives. Everybody gets up but naturally, the middle-aged woman is the first one to jump in the transport. It’s calm at this hour, few people only were already sitting. From the top of my window, the landscapes go by…

IINNNN. Another person attracts my attention. A young woman in a bus station. She is waiting. Because I’m already on a bus, she doesn’t seem to see me. In fact, she doesn’t seem to see anybody because she picks her nose. The more she’s doing it, the more my face is contracting into a grimace of disgust. I sincerely hope I don’t have anything in common with her. 

As the bus carries on, I tried to forget this horrible accident. 

Last stop before I’m leaving the transportation. This time only one woman is standing at the station. She is surrounded by huge shopping bags, trapped by her greediness. A veil covers most of her face but underlines her insistent gaze. I don’t know why but she is looking nervously from left to right, right to left. Maybe, she’s afraid to see a specific person coming because she knows, she won’t be able to escape with all the bags she would have to carry. The pursuit course will not last long, and half of her precious items will be lost in the way. She would have been a mystery Santa for all the bystanders along her way. My bus is leaving before I can glimpse the denouement of this intriguing story. Really sad. 

As I’m walking from the bus station to my new home I’m wondering, which story do people imagine when they see me? 

This is one part of my daily life now. Lost in my thoughts, try to remember everything that Marc told us today. He said that we should observe people around us and see where it goes. With time, we’ll perceive what can bond them together and dig some deep insights that will lead us to sticky ideas. I like that. 

Public transportation is perfect to watch the world. I’ll continue to observe people when they are the most natural….maybe sometimes too natural

@EmmaGruttola

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