Rantings and Ravings

Across from me, an elderly man sits pecking at a telephone that he
doesn’t understand. His shoes are expensive. Beside him sits a small
coat that I can only assume belongs to an absentee spouse. The blue
veins of his forehead show prominently and his face is a constant
frown. Perched on his nose, a small round pair of gold framed glasses.
I imagine him as a much younger man, gentle and solemn, with the
charm of a business executive. A man with good taste in business suits
and expensive leather shoes. As if he was listening to my thought, he
raises from his seat, shoves a piece of folded paper into his left
trouser pocket and realigns himself with his now present spouse. They
debate on proper etiquitte and procedure and she disappears again,
lost at the front counter and visibly confused. A woman with a
boisterous baby stroller sits and the man begins chatting with her.
She tells him about the details of a train ride and an appointment
that was missed. She is disheveled, shoved into a t-shirt two sizes to
small and speaks in a voice that touts ignorance.