Page 26, Line by Jane Langley

Inspired by Line 26, Page 26 of ‘Better Off Dead’ by Lee Child and Andrew Child.

An Intersection

Some kind of urgent conversation broke out between them. It was a conversation that seemed to involve their whole bodies, so vigorous were the gesticulations. It was hard to tell if either of them was even listening to the other. They were both so intent on their own frantic gestures. Were they angry? Were they accusing each other of something? Did they just have a whole lot to catch up on?

Moments earlier, I’d have assumed they were two strangers, striding purposefully in opposite directions – if I’d even noticed them at all. But the chaotic commuter crowd pounding the pavement that morning had other plans. Their bodies were physically jostled together into a head-on collision that neither could avoid.

Their initial interaction suggested typical New York self-righteousness. No one actually said the words “I’m walking here!”, but they didn’t need to. Their conversation was so theatrically physical, I felt almost compelled to intervene.

But as I leaned in to get closer, I realised their body language was familiar. Intimate, even. Foreheads pressed together, they were caressing each other’s faces and murmuring secret messages. Then they suddenly drew apart and resumed their journeys in opposite directions, without so much as a longing backwards glance.

I felt unjustifiably disappointed – as if the outcome of this interaction between two strangers had any bearing on my own life’s story. But it felt so unresolved. A perplexing anti-climax, from impassioned connection to … nothing. Moving on, apart.

Who knew there were such complicated stories in those colonies of millions? I’ll never use ant poison again.

Jane Langley