I sat down in the moderately comfortable seat, the appropriate distance that one seems obligated to keep when it comes to sitting near strangers in public transport waiting areas. Not long after I’d settled down with my laptop, watching some mindless TV show I had downloaded for this specific occasion, a man with neon yellow headphones and a reflective vest approached the small desk underneath the sign that read A Gate 1 B. He announced that boarding for families with children, children flying alone, or people with some sort of special membership, could now board the plane. As people began to pick up their bags, and generally shuffle about, I noticed a man with a working dog standing at the other end of my row of seats. The dog was of medium size, bronze colored, with expressive golden brown eyes. The man on the other side of the leash was not very tall, with buzzed hair. His eyes were not focused and seemed to wander separately from each other. Despite this, his small smile and confidant stance hinted at his awareness of the world around him. I ignored my initial urge to go greet the dog, for as anyone who pays attention would realize, the dog was working. Any attention from a stranger is an unwanted distraction. A small group of our follow passengers stood near the man, and asked him about his dog. His name was Bentley. Yes, he was a good dog, very eager to move. The man smiled like a proud parent, and laughed indulgently with the questioners. Bentley luxuriously stretched and watched the door.
As we lined up to the gate, Bentley slipped past me, causing the man to slightly bump into me. I heard him say “Careful” reproachfully as he passed. The man handling the tickets tagged one of the man’s bags to be stowed away, and asked if he needed assistance up the ramp. He replied, “No, no. It’ll be fine,” then to Bentley, “Forward.” As the worker checked my boarding pass, another woman in the same reflective vest leaned through the door frame and asked, “Did you ask if he wanted assistance up the ramp?” The man with my pass replied, somewhat impatiently, “Yes, he said he’d be fine.” The woman looked perplexed and said, “I believe you but…” and pulled back into the passageway. As I went through myself, I smiled slightly thinking, “O, ye of little faith.” That dog could find his way better than most people, I believe.
_________
This is a work in progress, there's several more bits of story to go after this. Seemed a good point to stop and ask opinions though.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
I think it's a great idea. God only knows how many interesting things happen in the airport and on planes. If you really wanted to do something with it, you could ask your friends for submissions too and then attempt to publish a book.
Liking the understated expressiveness of it. Take the theme of strangers in familiar-ish places and run with it. We've all been to transit stations with their disturbing familiarity yet totally alien nature. It's an awesome common theme. Restaurants (particularly fast food) might be fun to play with.
One small spelling error: there is a "great" instead of a "greet" hanging around.
Your dialog and description are spot on. Now just tease us with more content! :D
Hello. This post is likeable, and your blog is very interesting, congratulations :-). I will add in my blogroll =). If possible gives a last there on my blog, it is about the GPS, I hope you enjoy. The address is http://gps-brasil.blogspot.com. A hug.
Post a Comment