So It Goes

In the heat haze filled days of Summer, Robert found himself in a bizarre situation.

The dusty sun rose over the dusty world once more. It always has. It always will. With it, came the new week; gone was the respite of the weekend. The oasis dried up and all that was left was burning dust that clung to sweat drenched skin. Summer made it's presence felt. Not of course that it helped Robert. Glittering sweat wept down his face as his new black suit desperately tried to keep it from the dry as bone pavement. It was the beginning of a new life......Right? Fresh out of college, landed a placement in a company and it was his first day at work. His Mother was ecstatic her son got a job. But....
Maybe it was the sun with it's heat but his heart was dry. When was the last time he wrote something? A month? a year? It mattered little anyway. Yes, his career came first and his career came last. Dry heart or not, he had a job to do. His walk to the train station was briefly halted by the smell of freshly baked pizza buns from the bakery. He devoured it hungrily, savoring the melting cheese hidden beneath the marshmallow-soft bun and licking the tomato sauce off his fingers. " Those Buns might become my new breakfast...I could just buy two of those then I can survive till the lunch break." He thought savoring the possibility of eating another of those trips to heaven.

The train arrived on time. It always did. Robert synced his watch to the screeching sound of the train as it resisted with all its might the prospect of stopping. The doors sighed to give way to a tangle of men, women and children all occupied with their own lives. Robert sighed with weary resignation. This is what it meant to be an adult after all. The doors sighed closed as the train lurched to a start. It would be a while till he would be free. It was a long journey; his was the last stop. Robert was half in a daze, reflecting on his choices that brought him here as he was wont to do, headphones lodged in his ears as his eyes darted around the train. No one he knew was there. As his stop came closer and closer, the train got emptier. and emptier; empty enough to notice a girl, weed thin in a black cardigan and pants that were a swirl of color from white to blue in a pattern that Robert cared little for. " what moron would wear a black shrug in the middle of the summer!?" a small part of his mind muttered in indignation at the woman's senseless dressing. For some reason though, his heart tugged at him, urging him to go and talk to her. His foot moved a step but hesitated to move another.
The woman was buried in a novel: Kings of the Reach. Robert fought through his hesitation. He would go and talk to her. He knew it. His heart drummed on his ribs as his eyes grew sharper, like an animal cornered by an unsurmountable challenge. The world seemed so vivid as grays gave way to reds and blues and greens. His legs obeyed him begrudgingly as his step quickened.

Once more, the doors sighed open as more people left the train, in that moment, as though by divine prophesy, two seats were vacant Robert rushed to fill one, in a few moments That woman filled the one right next to him. Up close, the woman was nothing impressive to look at with almond brown skin riddled with pimples, soft brown hair that tumbled past scrawny shoulders with large black rimmed glasses round her eyes. " Alright, now what?" His mind shouted at him. His heart who lead him this far had no answer. Every attempt at conversation he made, he shut down. "I could.....no no no no She'll think I'm a creep!" He thought as he sank into the metal seat, resting one of his hands in the space between them. Why did he feel a hand there? was he....... A sense of creeping dread came upon him as he steeled himself for the look of disgust he was bound to get. The world may have gone mad that day...but none came. No anger, no cutting stares just.. silence. As the girl hardly stirred. Her palm turned up to find his as her fingers locked his in place.

It was that very strange day that Robert found himself holding hands with a complete stranger. In complete silence without a word passing between them. The woman was firmly lost in her book.. maybe she didn't realize she was holding his hand? His hand was numb to the electric current that ran up to his shoulder as his hand was the surface of the sun. Robert tried in vain to wrestle it out of his grip but the woman's fingers were bars of iron. She noticed little of his anxiety as Robert tried to hide it in vain. The train was air conditioned and there were few people around; it certainly was not the heat that caused Robert to sweat. Yet, why was it he was so happy? it was a bizarre moment that happened because of her sheer carelessness. She would not have even known Robert's name yet why was he so happy? Regardless, that happiness ended as the door sighed open and The woman looked up from her book, closing it with one hand with a loud and final thud. Her hand slipped out ever so slowly from under him. Robert wanted to tell the woman to wait or to at least tell him her name but his voice abandoned him. The woman flounced off the train and as she left through the door, Robert thought he saw a small ghost of a smile on her lips. It mattered little as the door closed and the world resumed its normal course.

Robert clasped the hand which touched that woman as it still tingled. With a small, weary and begrudging smile he muttered
" So it goes." As the doors opened at his stop and he trudged onward to work.

Author's Note

Be merciless

Reviews

[Vic]

My first thought was when a girl reads a book in public, she doesn't want to be disturbed. But reading Robert's struggle to go talk to the girl made me appreciate the conflict. The girl's response was not what I was expecting, but you made it fit well with the characterization, even though she didn't say or do much. Perhaps that is why it worked so well.