I'm sliding off the smooth surface of the waiting seat at St.Pancras. The book in my hand slips away, and I am distracted by shrill laughter. When I look up, I see her and then, her headband. A bright colourful one on a white smooth scalp. She's walking slow, a pause accompanying each step. She's barely 25 perhaps, tall and bony. Her bright blue eyes are radiant, and implores me to ignore her gaunt clean face.
An elderly lady has her arm wound around the young girl's hand. Reassuring. Supportive. Protective. The two are strolling in, taking in their surroundings, enjoying that distinctive railway station buzz. Are they perceiving something more than I can see, I wonder.
I am staring so hard at the girl, and her deathly white appearance, I forget all about decency. I am trying not to think the two extreme words, but they play on my mind instinctively. Cancer and chemo. I hastily rubbish the thought, attribute it to my melodramatic psyche.
And then it happens.
She must have sensed it, my gaze. When our eyes meet, they seem to have a silent conversation. But I am now mortified, and shifty in my seat. My heart, my mind, and the look on my face are not in tune. They each decide to act on their own.
Her gaze moves from my face to my belly. Mine swing to her headband again. In the next two seconds, our heads turn away from each other, our eyes have seemingly moved away from each other, never to meet again. But God oh God, our thoughts meet. Somewhere along, they collide. And for that brief moment, the recognition that life is a paradox or two, grips me.
Hi Robert.
Wow. Thanks for your inputs. I scribbled this sitting at the railway station, and the words just came out as I imagined the sequences.
Reading through your points - they do make sense, grammatical sense. I am just wondering how I never thought of them before!
Anju, the beginning of this story is intriguing but the piece you have presented needs a lot of editing to make it read better. I do hope you don't take offence but the following need looking at: white smooth - should be smooth white. slow - should be slowly. She's barely 25 perhaps -should be barely 25 (no perhaps). bony - should be boney. implores - should be implore. An elderly lady has her arm wound around the young girl's hand - sounds like an impossible wrestling move - how about ' An elderly lady walks with her, arm in arm. strolling in - should just be strolling as this in is not required. I wonder - should be followed by a ? attribute - should be and attribute. sensed it, my gaze - should simply be sensed my gaze. Mine swing -should be mine swings. our eyes have seemingly moved away from each other - thay have either moved away or they haven't, so no seemingly required. Somewhere along - along what? that life is a paradox or two - doesn't make sense, as one life can only be one paradox (singular).
Sorry to be pedantic, but thought you might appreciate this input at the earliest stage.
Robert