Station Vignette No. 2
Monday, April 18, 2005
A green estate car with two small children in the back - the one behind the woman driver still small enough to need a child seat. The car stopped in the dropping-off zone directly opposite where I was standing on the platform. I was alerted by the fact that the passenger door didn't open but the woman didn't turn to look at the man next to her. Strained silence oozed from the car. The smaller of the two children looked asleep but the other was happily looking out the window and obviously making comments to his parents.
After about five minutes, in which the woman half-turned towards her partner once or twice but never fully faced the passenger side, the door opened and the man got out to enter the station. Before the woman drove off I watched her drop her face into her hand and rest her forehead against her thumb and forefinger. It was a gesture of both desolation and resignation at the same time. With a quick shake of her head she put the hand back on the steering wheel and drove off.
I had a sense of infidelity discovered and confirmed, of protestations rejected, of ultimatums delivered. Then again, perhaps they were simply arguing about money or which school to send the boy to.
After about five minutes, in which the woman half-turned towards her partner once or twice but never fully faced the passenger side, the door opened and the man got out to enter the station. Before the woman drove off I watched her drop her face into her hand and rest her forehead against her thumb and forefinger. It was a gesture of both desolation and resignation at the same time. With a quick shake of her head she put the hand back on the steering wheel and drove off.
I had a sense of infidelity discovered and confirmed, of protestations rejected, of ultimatums delivered. Then again, perhaps they were simply arguing about money or which school to send the boy to.
