Once on the train, I searched the floor for anything
interesting; a gum wrapper, some trash and a gold pin. I picked it up and
examined the details. It was a broche from a cheap pawn shop, I could tell
because the sticker on the back was half ripped off reading “PINKI’S PAWN SHO”.
Pinki’s was down the street from the parlor I used to work. I dropped the pin, nothing
exciting. The train was in full motion now. We had entered a tunnel. The
darkness through the windows was gruesome, so dark you could only see your
reflection in the glass. I looked down again, trying to find something to keep
me busy. I came upon some shoes, old man shoes. They were shiny black leather
loafers but it was obvious they had been worn before. The laces choked the man’s
foot. I could tell. His pants, on the other hand, were quite large for this
frame and so was his coat. It was like he bought an entire suit a size too big,
and was too lazy to ever return it. Or maybe it was a gift. I scanned this man’s
attire all the way up until his face; I didn’t much care for that.
The petite woman beside me smirked at her Kindle. I leaned over
to see what she was reading. The glowing screen read “The Misadventures of Arachna
and Mr. Butler.” I continued reading, over her shoulder, about some evil witch
and her butler who hatch a plan to kill their penny-pinching land owner. We got
to page seventy before she noticed my heavy breathing over shoulder. She closed
her Kindle.
