Stifled laughter
15 Nov 2004I shouldn’t have laughed, really. Having said that, it was too damn funny, in a mildly depressing way.
Stock Nokia ringtone. Public transport. Two people, same phone, less than three meters apart, one siting as the other stands.
One rings. Two women dive, arm first, into the undisclosed depths of a bag, searching, reaching, the urgency of the task upon them. Both continue digging for what seems an eternity; a collective anticipation fills the bus, an awaiting of the inevitable, one way or another, when the phone ceases to ring. Both women, searching, convinced it is their phone, their ring tone.
Eventually, of course, it is found. With a “Hello?”, the search is over. Greeted by a friend, or left staring into the depths of a bag, from which the phone now emerges for no purpose. Anticipation over, my attention is diverted, as is the case for the rest of the bus — the situation, in my mind, finds (or perhaps instills) some degree of humour.