As soon as she sat down in the train, she began methodically running her hand over individual strands of hair. She would stroke, stroke, stroke, stroke one handful of curls, and then move on the next handful. Stroke, stroke, stroke, stroke. Next, etc. Her eyes darting around every time she changed strands, perhaps worried that she wouldn't be able to finish the required number of strokes before the metro left the station.
When the train did start moving, she turned her attention to the palm of her hand and began picking at a patch of dry skin. Pick, pick, pick, pull, eat. Her sharp white teeth deftly shredding the skin before she swallowed.
Between Berri-UQAM and Saint-Laurent metro stations, she managed to pull off and eat four small strips of skin.
It wasn't her behaviour that disturbed me so much as the thought of my behaviour.
Think about it. Isn't there something that you do that could be construed as weird? Or make you look loco in la cabeza? Not two minutes before she and I crossed paths on the metro, I had been standing on the Berri-UQAM platform repeating the Sanskrit mantra I am trying to learn (two lines down pat already, btw). I certainly wasn't chanting out loud, but I'm sure the women waiting on the opposite platform may have wondered why my lips were moving when there was obviously no music playing and I wasn't wearing earphones.
Wouldn't it be cool if you could follow yourself around for a day and get a sense of just how whimsical you are? What do you think you'd get stared at for?
NB. The next time you throw yourself a pity party because your girlfriend made you watch a stupid smoochy chick flick or you broke the heel on your favourite pair of stilettos, remember the trapped paramedic who survived 4 days on dirt and rotting beaver.
Were you ever pinned under an ATV and forced to bundle a beaver carcass by your groin to help keep your body warm? No? Then you're fine. Really.
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2 comments:
Um, I read this while eating breakfast. A mistake.
If you want to know how many people are watching you, try yawning ... yes, I mean a BIG yawn with the sound of the ocean in it! You can even be a little discrete if you prefer (no ocean sound) but the results are hilarious! Mid-yawn, when people realize what's happening, they try to stifle it by squeezing their lips closed, or just hide behind a newspaper or anything handy. It's really a hoot if you're up to it!
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