When? he asked. When does middle age end and old age begin?

"When" he asked, " when does middle age end and old age begin?"

It took awhile to recover from his question.

Monday, June 14, 2010

Embarassment

As wide as two seats, there was little gap between he and his wife on the four seat bench. As we had boarded he had been chatting up the bus driver but now had turned to watch the embarking passengers.

A comely young woman got on, tall and lithe, in slim jeans and a long coat, her doe eyes peeked out from behind a niqab. His head turned from her as a couple of colour got on. Her head dress elaborate folds of colourful fabric the same as her elegant dress; he in a grey business suit with an embroidered damask cap upon his head.

Next an impassive Asian man.

"Passports" he said loudly, "Passports."

The Asian man appeared not to understand and made his way towards the back.

Several people jostled through, groceries were stowed and back packs adjusted. People settled here and there. He appraised them all.

The bus began to pull away and abruptly stopped. The driver opened the door and lowered the bus with a w-oo-sh. A tiny lady got on.

"Passport" he crowed.

A younger woman stood up,
" NO!" she announced firmly! and shook her finger at him.
" Aunt-ie! my seat" she said kindly and then glowered down at him.

The tiny lady took the offered seat and as the bus pulled away they began a conversation in a language I couldn't undertand.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Interesting. Sounds like the beginning of a novel or short story???

Jay said...

Just my observations.

Anonymous said...

Hey - you have a lot of nerve nagging me to blog more when it's been WEEKS for you...eh? eh? eh? Come one!!