Creative Burst - There Was This Guy on a Train
A guy on a train asks a woman for a light. He knows that there is no smoking anywhere on the train except for the rear deck which is clearly marked as the only smoking section allowed for those who feel they can't wait the X hours it takes to get from point A to point B. But his A and B are a good distance from each other and even though he's gone X hours before without a cigarette he can think of no other way to strike up a conversation with such a stunning beauty as this woman. She is clearly Y years his junior, but what is age in the face of romantic attraction?
He got on the train at A, as he always does every day at Z o'clock in the afternoon. Although the train makes several stops before it reaches B--this being D, E, and F among others which are almost always fruitless gestures since no one bothers to use those stops any longer since they really aren't near anything of any importance--he can't recall which stop it was when she entered the car in which he's riding. It could be that she got on at A with him and perhaps he just didn't notice and perhaps she was spending the first half of the trip to B in the rear car where the air conditioning always seems to be set a few degrees lower than the car in which he's riding. But he likes the slightly warmer air which doesn't upset his asthma as does the cooler. This wasn't been such a problem in his twenties and early thirties, but lately he's been taking notice.
He holds up the cigarette as he repeats the request. She isn't looking at him, or refuses to look at him, and he is left wondering if he's made a mistake by even opening his mouth because of the way her lips are curling slightly downward. She is obviously distraught, or annoyed, or one of the many other emotions he's noticed well up within himself when a person attempts a conversation with him when he clearly doesn't want to reciprocate. It is a real shame and he's actually beginning to feel sorry for her. He lowers the cigarette.
Maybe she just doesn't appreciate smoking.
He got on the train at A, as he always does every day at Z o'clock in the afternoon. Although the train makes several stops before it reaches B--this being D, E, and F among others which are almost always fruitless gestures since no one bothers to use those stops any longer since they really aren't near anything of any importance--he can't recall which stop it was when she entered the car in which he's riding. It could be that she got on at A with him and perhaps he just didn't notice and perhaps she was spending the first half of the trip to B in the rear car where the air conditioning always seems to be set a few degrees lower than the car in which he's riding. But he likes the slightly warmer air which doesn't upset his asthma as does the cooler. This wasn't been such a problem in his twenties and early thirties, but lately he's been taking notice.
He holds up the cigarette as he repeats the request. She isn't looking at him, or refuses to look at him, and he is left wondering if he's made a mistake by even opening his mouth because of the way her lips are curling slightly downward. She is obviously distraught, or annoyed, or one of the many other emotions he's noticed well up within himself when a person attempts a conversation with him when he clearly doesn't want to reciprocate. It is a real shame and he's actually beginning to feel sorry for her. He lowers the cigarette.
Maybe she just doesn't appreciate smoking.
posted by Tim Kenyon at
10:48 PM
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