The platform was full of people, men, women, young, old, rich, poor... There were some of the youngest adults you could imagine, who handled their stock portfolio on the back of their ABC book and there were some of the oldest children you could imagine, who stupidly banged their heads against a football in the narrow space. But most of them were perfectly normal citizens, just standing immobile and waiting for the next train to arrive.
Bob could not tell me what it all sounded like, and only barely what it looked like, because he was listening to a lecture in late 16th century anthropology in his mp3 player, and due to an iritis, he wore sun glasses in the dark space. It was a special model of sunglasses, fastened with a zipper in the neck, so they should not fall off. His eyes would survive well without them, but it was more comfortable to hide them behind these elaborate glasses for the duration of the illness.
As he was standing there, waiting for the train, he could see movement in the crowd. People turned their heads, and a young, fairly attractive, woman made the crowd let her pass, visibly shouting at them, as the people around her started every now and then. Not only that, but she also physically pushed them aside with her tender hands. She left a path behind her like the warm foaming water after a motor boat, as the people who had given her room were hesitating to once again occupy the space she had taken.
Suddenly she stopped.
She was just in front of Bob. She looked at him. Her mouth was moving, and he realised she was talking to him. He raised one hand to ask her to wait a moment, while the other hand went into his pocket to switch off the mp3 player. He then, carefully, removed the headphones, which were stuck deep into his ears. They were of the kind that expands after a few seconds to block out all external noise. He would not let them fall to the ground but put them in his shirt pocket.
She politely asked two things. The first was "Do you happen to know where the ticket counter is?" The second thing was, "Would you mind removing your sun glasses? I like to see the eyes of the person I talk to. Or with."
He put his hands behind his neck and unzipped the glasses. He folded them and put them in his waist coat pocket. He smiled at her with his most winning smile and answered "It is just over there. Turn right and walk ten steps."
"Oh, no!" she exclaimed. "You have grey eyebrows. I thought you were attractive."
Within three seconds she had disappeared in the crowd. And not in the direction of the ticket counter.