A Seat of One’s Own
A boy and his little brother–each armed with a sack of groceries–board the bus and rush to pile onto a single vacant seat. The younger boy’s brown eyes flash as … Continue reading
Do-Re-Mi S.O.S.
As bus merged onto the highway, leaving no chance for unhappy passengers to disembark, a group of Slovakian college students old enough to know better broke into song. The driver … Continue reading
Punctual
She was forty-five minutes early for her train–the young woman who kept looking at the arrival screen above her and straining to listen to the loudspeaker’s announcements. Bahnsteig Eins, Bahnsteig … Continue reading
M’s Party Trick
M. is a shy Peter Pan. Reddish-brown hair, chestnut eyes, trim in the macho-black button-up shirts of his fellow Turkish waiters, he stands with his hands behind his back while … Continue reading
Nothing to See Here
The little boy sat with his legs folded under him and labored carefully in his notebook, writing plays for Arsenal, his favorite soccer club. A chilly Serbian woman and her … Continue reading
Personal Space
At mid-morning, the U-Bahn platform was nearly abandoned. The young woman with ceaseless layers walked to her usual waiting place and stopped. From this point, her transfers to other subway … Continue reading
So, Thank You.
Flirting with the narrator was a sure way into the story. He must have known this, though certainly half her age. He approached at the bus stop not long after … Continue reading
Self-Sufficient
An elementary-aged girl pushed the button for the tram to stop, then turned to her birdcage, which she had propped on a nearby seat. She exhaled and prepared herself with … Continue reading
Can we (at least) slow the pace of disappearing?
This moment, he thought, would not be remembered by anybody but him, and one day it would vanish from his memory too. -Aleksandar Hemon. Nowhere Man. (Book finished in Südbahnhof, … Continue reading
Old-Fashioned
Flipping through a fashion magazine, the woman gazes past the words and tries to entertain herself with the pictures. On an interesting photograph of shoes, she reaches for her husband’s … Continue reading
Bitte Schön
He stands up when the little old lady comes through the doors, since there are no available seats in his section of the U-Bahn. It is not a crowded mid-day, … Continue reading
The Nice Thing About Strangers 