It’s 6 p.m. on Friday. Normally there shouldn’t be many people at the metro station, but today it’s an exception.
The train came. Doors opened. People stepped out and stepped in. While I was rushing to the staircase of the train, I accidentally kicked the shoe of a muslin girl. I was panicked. I was worried about quarrelling with her, and with another muslin girl on her side, who is evidently her bestie. But before anything happened, I had already reached the second floor. I felt sorry for not saying sorry, or pardon in French to her. Or do I really feel sorry, since it wasn’t even a kick, but more like a mild friction?
While I was immersed in my reflection, a tall white woman halted halfway on the staircase, turned around, took off her headphones, and said “Excuse me?” to a fat black woman on the ground floor. Unlike me, she wasn’t apologizing, but asking for an explanation. I could tell the tone wasn’t friendly, but I had no clue what had happened between them.
All of a sudden, the train moved. The tall white woman almost fell over. She was swift enough to hold the handrail on time and then soundly walked onto the second floor, even with heels on.
As the tall white woman went upstairs, I saw and heard many people downstairs laughing. The two muslin girls were the most noticeable. They laughed so hard that they headed against each other to keep their bodies straight and steady.
Then I saw the fat black woman constantly peering over her shoulders in my direction. I suppose she was hunting that tall white woman, who was typing on her phone with her headphones on. Then she turned around and laughed at a black man sitting on the staircase:
“Hahahaha, didn’t you hear what I said to her? Lady, you have bumped into me…”
“Hahahah that lady on heels, she almost fell over, didn’t you see that?”
“Oh la la, Lady on Heels, oh la la...”
“Hehehehehe…”
The fat black woman got off one stop before mine. Before leaving, she said briefly in my direction: “Goodbye, Lady on Heels“. I turned around and checked the tall white woman again — she was still busy with her phone, with headphones on. It was a really nice pair of headphones. Noise cancelling.
Doors closed.
The muslin girls were still laughing. I wasn’t sure if they had had any eye contact with the fat black woman before she got off.
