Sunday, March 7, 2010

egocentrism.

Scene: University Transport Shuttle, 4:15pm on the Friday afternoon that kicks off spring break.

Aside from the regular riders, there are several students with large suitcases checking their watches to calculate if they are going to make their bus/flight/train. On the second stop, an undergraduate female struggles to board with her large suitcase that is too cumbersome for her to handle with grace. The driver waits patiently for her to get everything inside the bus, and the man in the front seat reaches down to help her with her suitcase. She smiles distractedly at him and whispers an entitled thanks. She sits down next to an older gentleman in the third row reading the newspaper and leaves her suitcase in [blocking] the aisle. She appears annoyed rather than flustered, and has an overall arrogance about her.

The bus approaches traffic, routine for this time of day, and the tension rises as the infrequent riders worry they won't make it where they need to be in time.

Gentleman (looking at the college student): What time is it, please?

She looks at him. She looks over at the girl on the other side of the row. She looks down at her purse.

Girl: What time is it...? What time is my flight? [long pause when she doesn't get a response] ...or do you mean, like, now?

She glances at the graduate student on the other side of the bus, as if for validation of the audacity of the question. The girl doesn't meet her glance. The man nods curtly at the latter. The girl scrambles to find her blackberry in her purse even though she's wearing a watch.

Girl: Oh. Well, it's, um, 4:20,

She says with a scoff, and stops as if mid-sentence as if she had something more to say but thought better of it.

Man: Thank you.


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