The Nice Thing About Strangers
Creative Non-Fiction Short Stories. :) Travel, Oldsters, Love, and Compassion.
Escalator Kissing
The man and woman have grey hair and matching gold necklaces. They hold hands. People rarely walk down the escalator stairs in this Budapest metro station, as the angle is quite steep and there’s little need to hurry. Perhaps because of this, perhaps because he doesn’t care, the man stands on the left, clutching the handrail and the hand of his love as they descend. He leans over to kiss her cheek and spots me on the step behind them. He grins after the smooch, and begins saying something to me. I know how to say in Hungarian that I can’t speak Hungarian, but I always say it incorrectly. He shakes his head when I try. So I say: “Pardon, Angol” which is the phrase I use when I want an English menu in a Budapest restaurant.
The woman laughs, “Angol.” The man continues to speak, seemingly asking a variety of questions before she scoffs and surely reiterates that I can’t understand a word. He shrugs, smiles mischievously. “London?” He asks.
I shake my head patriotically, “America.” He doesn’t give me a blink of recognition, so I keep babbling, “Colorado. Denver? America?” Also grasping at a word he might know, I try, “Texas?” I’m not from Texas, but I don’t mind being associated with Texas. And this word turns on the light bulbs, they both nod and laugh, “Texas! Texas!”
It takes this long to get to the bottom of the escalator ride. As we part ways, he keeps saying things to me, she keeps giggling at him, and I keep smiling about their kiss. I am so grateful. I’ve been struggling with writing lately, and wondered if my inspiration had come to an end, but I immediately pulled out my notebook to scrawl notes from our encounter. I felt I had to tell their sweet story–or, at least as much as I could understand.
–Budapest, Hungary
Budapest Metro. (The photo isn’t from the occasion of the story above.) (Also, it is even steeper than it looks here.)
The Nice Thing About Strangers 
Nice story 😀
A very sweet story. Love it!
almost interesting cos i couldn’t get the whole story
Sweetness overload 😍
Right? I probably would have written about him even if he didn’t want to tell me their story. 🙂 I wish I’d had a friend along to translate.
Have a nice weekend–
Paige
Loved reading many of the short stories posted! It’s like escaping into the specific moment and experiencing it as well as a reader ❤️
Thank you so much! I’m glad you’ve enjoyed the stories. I keep looking back through them myself as a sort of formal journal of where I’ve been. It’s helped me keep track and to be grateful for all I’ve had the chance to see. 🙂
Welcome,
Paige
Such a sweet, loving story. It’s nice to see sweet gestures in a world that’s so full of hate.
I can’t recall the last time I’ve seen something as peaceful and loving like your story. But then again, rush hour commute in NYC doesn’t have patience for such 😦
Restless, sometimes we just have to look. I’ve found when I switched my focus, even the jerks were just little kids looking for a place to sit in the lunchroom. 🙂 Of course, I’m not in NYC. Lol. If you find anything over there, let me know.
Paige
This story is just so freaking adorable. I’ve literally fallen short of words to what I actually wanna say about this one. Seriously.
🙂 Haha, that’s awesome! I was grinning so hard after I saw them that my face hurt. Glad to take one for the team (and share the highlights). 🙂
Paige
sweet couple. at least they tried their best to engage a stranger through a conversation despite the language barrier.
I thought so as well. He was just full of joy and wanted to share it. He communicated that without any trouble at all. 🙂
Paige
I love this story😆 Any tips for a new blogger? ✌
Hi Kamron,
I think the most helpful for me as I got started was to set some deadlines and keep them. In the last two months, I’ve had a hard time meeting the Monday-Wednesday-Friday posting dates in my blog headline, but for about 4 years I never budged on the deadlines. If you say you MUST write X number of times in the week, and you hold yourself accountable to that, you’ll find that the ideas will arrive and you’ll learn a lot about your own voice. 🙂 Best of luck! I’m following you (blog-wise, not down an alley or something…).
Paige
Thank you so much! I appreciate any help I can get! Glad you’re not following me down an alley haha!
Only to protect you. I have a tactical flashlight. 🙂
Paige
I love this story! So sweet😊
It’s lovely to read about pleasant experiences like this, so often only the bad gets reported.
J.R.,
This was my intent when I started the blog (glory, 4 years ago?! Has it been 4 years?). By deciding I would only be sharing only the good, then I had no trouble finding it. 🙂
Thanks for saying hello–
Paige
I’d like to think it would get easier with time, thanks for sharing your memories 🙂
So sweet. I’m inspired now to make note more often of these kinds of encounters as we travel. It’s nothing really, and yet it’s everything, these snippets of human connection that make up our time exploring a new country.
Alison
This is so adorable and sweet! 😍😊😊
To think of it now still puts a smile on my face! I’m glad you enjoyed it too!
Paige
In a world where the concept of love is ever evolving, thanks for this beautiful piece on love ☺
Thank you so much! And such an evolution on an escalator gives one all the more reason to hold hands with our loved ones. 🙂 And the handrail!
Have a lovely weekend–
Paige
I like the universal connection witnessing kisses can lead to. Their smiles toward you doesn’t even need translation. Nice post.
Thank you! You’re right, I figured I had a sense of what he wanted to say. 🙂 Their joy was such a gift to witness.
Have a lovely weekend–
Paige
I certainly enjoy your insight and perspective toward life. However you decide to express yourself in the future, you’ve certainly imparted a little of your optimism and spirit through this. Regardless of your decision, have solace in that.
Keith,
This is a lovely note. I appreciate that you took the time to write to me, and I am going to screenshot this for a rainy (busy/bleak) day. 🙂
Paige
I certainly enjoy your insight and perspective toward life. However you decide to express yourself in the future, you’ve certainly imparted a little of your optimism and spirit through this. Regardless of your decision, have solace in that.
This is what I love about travelling you see so many strangers but you get attached to there story as it is your own
Great story , good job ❤
Yes, this is what my blog has helped me uncover and share. 🙂 It also means, I can’t stay still. 🙂
Paige
Loved it. 😍
Sweet! Never to old to smooch ‘;]’
Absolutely! I can’t wait to get there myself. 🙂
Paige
The smoothies bit or getting old ‘;-D
Cute chance encounters we miss noticing everyday.Well articulated and sweetly expressed.That love between the couple,giggles, and blushing is well visualised.My compliments dear.
It is so crazy to me that in an escalator in Budapest, even there, “Texas” makes light bulbs go off. I love it.
Duncan,
🙂 “Don’t Mess With Texas” is a nice universal principle. If I could take the humidity, I’d be there myself.
Paige
Hi, I absolutely LOVE the concept of your whole blog. I cannot wait to go travelling and this just sums up a brilliant way to join writing and travelling, how original and creative! this particular story really stood out to me as me and my partner are rubbish at learning new languages and it sounds like some kind of situation we would find ourselves in. Please may I share some of your amazing writing onto my blog? For your travelling antics, I am extremely impressed!!! keep up with the wonderful yet interesting and enlightening writing, you will continue being an inspiration to me 🙂
I went to Budapest for the tattoo convention. Nice, small convention. Some good artists. 😉
My wife and I love escalators – we get always catch a long hug and a kiss if she stands a step above me and turns around. The town we live in now has one escalator in the casino – and we are not casino-goers. Escalator time is a rare and special treat for us 🙂
Jay, think of all the stories you and your wife may have inspired on random blogs! How lovely! 😀
Paige
This is the kind of thing I’d scribble in a notebook, too.
I was just in Budapest and tried to explain where I was from (Cincinnati). In English. But it meant nothing.I went with Chicago as my location link with them.
I’ve had this happen as I roam as well. There was a recent Turkish comedy film about a guy from a Turkish village marrying a foreign girl, Jessica, who came from Colorado. There’s a whole scene of people saying, “Colorado?!” So these days, the Turks at least have a point of reference. 🙂
Paige