Each Friday, [tweetthis]I post a photo and a bit of flash fiction. I keep the words brief because, you know, “a picture is worth a 1,000….” [/tweetthis] To find out more click here.

My commute via Chicago’s Green-Line L train inspired this post, “Scenes from the train.”

 

Eleanor slipped through the doors just as the robotic voice announce, “Doors are closing.”  She looked around for a place to sit in the packed train car.  Not near someone over-cologned; not near the man-spread, not near that lady with a cat in her baby carriage.

She found just the right nesting spot: between the professional-looking man in his mid-twenties, and the mildly obese woman in a suede jacket.  Definitely a student.

Seven stops.  That’s all.  Eleanor studied the people around her, as necks craned over cell-phones, and an occasional book.  No one looked at each other.

This is the emptying time, Eleanor thought. In three stops, maybe four, it’ll be only me in this car.

Sure enough, each stop deposited people, and few entered.  Suede Jacket, and Suit Man remained. The click-clack of the train bumped Eleanor between a Men’s Wear-suited bicep and a lemon-scented student. Two heads bent over cell-phones.  Eleanor’s mind turned inward.

I’m not moving.  A social experiment. she thought.  Who will move first?  Not me.

“Transfer to Orange Line,” the robot announce.  “Doors open on your right in the direction of travel.”

Suede Jacket exited, leaving Eleanor shoulder to shoulder with Suit Man.

Oh geez.  I hope he’s not getting off at the same stop as me.

Eleanor glanced at Suit-Man’s phone, trying hard not to turn her head.  He was texting someone.

It's  old woman

??

U no. 1 I told U bout.

 cra-z?

Y. 1 who takes pics of evRy 1.

Careful

No prob. M Bside her. Can't get me.

CREEPY!!