Encounter - Part 2
The girl looked out the window again, hiding her smile. But the man couldn't leave it there. He leant forward again, putting himself in danger of falling off the platform, and tapped her on the shoulder. The girl turned around, alarmed. Then she saw it was only the young man, and looked up at him questioningly. The man cleared his throat and pulled his straggly beard nervously.
"And you are 16 or 15, or 14, 17, 18, 19, or maybe 20?"
The girl choked back a laugh. The guy could have just asked her age... and he also didn't seem to have the concept of counting up, rather than down.
"No, I'm thirteen."
The man didn't catch it. He dug his hands into his pockets, and pulled out the contents, a rubberband, his wallet, a comb, a paper clip and a card. Holding all this in one hand and searching his shirt pocket with the other, he eventually pulled out a pen. The pen looked like it had under gone a lot of previous use, the clip on the side was broken, and the words on it were nearly all rubbed away. He put the rest of the stuff in his pocket and then wrote on the card: "Age?"
The girl repeated herself.
"I'm thirteen."
A remarkable change swept over the man's face. He looked almost green. He took a step back.
"You're lying!"
The girl tried to defend herself.
"No, no, I..."
"Yes, you must be lying."
"No, I am thirteen."
The man must have been convinced, he blinked several times and looked away.
"And you are 16 or 15, or 14, 17, 18, 19, or maybe 20?"
The girl choked back a laugh. The guy could have just asked her age... and he also didn't seem to have the concept of counting up, rather than down.
"No, I'm thirteen."
The man didn't catch it. He dug his hands into his pockets, and pulled out the contents, a rubberband, his wallet, a comb, a paper clip and a card. Holding all this in one hand and searching his shirt pocket with the other, he eventually pulled out a pen. The pen looked like it had under gone a lot of previous use, the clip on the side was broken, and the words on it were nearly all rubbed away. He put the rest of the stuff in his pocket and then wrote on the card: "Age?"
The girl repeated herself.
"I'm thirteen."
A remarkable change swept over the man's face. He looked almost green. He took a step back.
"You're lying!"
The girl tried to defend herself.
"No, no, I..."
"Yes, you must be lying."
"No, I am thirteen."
The man must have been convinced, he blinked several times and looked away.
posted by Lydie at
3:41 pm
4 Comments:
Excellent writing there Lyd, good dialogue going there!
Hahaha! Did that really happen? What a freak to be asking your age like that. Where was your family when all that happened?
Thanks, this has provided plenty of comic relief, just what I needed. I've just finished my 2,000 words for today. A total of 7,926! yeah! pat on the back!
Wow T, 2000 words a day, that's a mean feat!
You should blog the story as you write it as Lyd does...
Yeah, he was a weirdo all right. The rest of the fam were in the back of the bus... Keep up the writing!
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