people with mental powers shouldn't have to work
Today I was two whole hours late for Work for the Dole and no-one noticed. I slept in until 9a.m. and didn't leave the house until 10:30a.m. A strange thing happened when I went to catch the train into the city.
I was walking up the ramp after I bought some spearmint chewing-gum, and I saw this mother slightly struggling with a pram and a toddler walking by her side. As they were in a hurry, the kid tripped herself up and started crying. I was about two meters behind them. I gave the mum a sympathetic look, because now she'd have to comfort the child when the train was only a minute away.
Anyway, you know when you see something like that, and you start to extrapolate stories in your head? I do, in any case. I started thinking about what it'd be like to have an involuntary ability to affect the sense of balance of those around you. Like having a mutant power that affects the inner-ear or something.
As I was constructing various stories around the potentials of inner-ear shinnanigans, I was staring vaguely into the distance (down the platform) at this asian guy. He had a ponytail and a pretty cool jacket (I was thinking that at the same time as having fantasies about balance). Then the guy just fell straight to the ground and audibly smacked his head on the bitumen. He stayed there with his eyes closed, dangerously close to the edge, with the train just seconds away. It looked like he had fainted or had a fit.
His girlfriend rushed over and he opened his eyes. A group of commuters close by stood around, some asked if he was okay. He nodded and said he was, and his girlfriend rubbed his back comfortingly. The fainter and his girlfriend had this calm, slightly embarassed attitude, like it had all happened before. The train pulled up and they got on the carriage. I got on the next carriage up, thought how weird that was, then started reading Noam Chomsky's Fateful Triangle.
I was walking up the ramp after I bought some spearmint chewing-gum, and I saw this mother slightly struggling with a pram and a toddler walking by her side. As they were in a hurry, the kid tripped herself up and started crying. I was about two meters behind them. I gave the mum a sympathetic look, because now she'd have to comfort the child when the train was only a minute away.
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Am I invested with psychic powers? |
Anyway, you know when you see something like that, and you start to extrapolate stories in your head? I do, in any case. I started thinking about what it'd be like to have an involuntary ability to affect the sense of balance of those around you. Like having a mutant power that affects the inner-ear or something.
As I was constructing various stories around the potentials of inner-ear shinnanigans, I was staring vaguely into the distance (down the platform) at this asian guy. He had a ponytail and a pretty cool jacket (I was thinking that at the same time as having fantasies about balance). Then the guy just fell straight to the ground and audibly smacked his head on the bitumen. He stayed there with his eyes closed, dangerously close to the edge, with the train just seconds away. It looked like he had fainted or had a fit.
His girlfriend rushed over and he opened his eyes. A group of commuters close by stood around, some asked if he was okay. He nodded and said he was, and his girlfriend rubbed his back comfortingly. The fainter and his girlfriend had this calm, slightly embarassed attitude, like it had all happened before. The train pulled up and they got on the carriage. I got on the next carriage up, thought how weird that was, then started reading Noam Chomsky's Fateful Triangle.
posted by Lumpen at 6/19/2003 11:51:00 am
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