The Gentleman at the Station
While a man in a suit was not a strange sight, a foreigner wearing a three piece and a hat was. Well in this tropical country, that is. The man must be feeling really hot under the collar!
I was standing by the station's platform, waiting for my train. It was a small place, but crowded due to the rush hour and somehow, this middle-aged man arrested my attention.
It was the suit at first; I did so love classic suits and outside of TV, I didn't get to see them often. The second thing was the pocket watch he had.
I didn't get to see it in full, but even from this distance - we were standing across one another, first in line to board the train - I couldn't make out the whole detail but it looked old and pretty.
He even had that chain that connected the watch to his breast pocket. I wished Dad was with me so I could show him.
The gentleman must have felt me staring for he looked up and our eyes met. Caught, I offered a sheepish, polite grin and a short nod of greeting, hoping he wouldn't truly be offended.
A hint of surprise flitted through his face, but it could be my imagination.
Well, since there was that boy wearing earphones standing right beside him in the line, ready to takeover him when the train arrived, he must have thought all youngsters were impolite or something. The boy was even ignoring him! That was so rude.
The man tipped his hat at me, grim lips quirked into a parody of a smile. Such a gentleman.
Contented now that he had concluded his greetings, his attention returned to the pocket watch in his hand.
A second, two second, then -
The train arrived with its usual grating noise and then -
He tutted, sighed, and closed the watch decisively, a tone of finality underlying his movements.
That was the last thing I saw before -
HEAT
FIRE
PAIN
.....
"Such a tragedy," an old woman murmured as she placed the flower bouquet she brought among the myriad that already decorated the ruined subway entrance. Throngs of people milled about the scorched place, held away from the scene by yellow police tapes. That didn't stop the citizens from flooding the place with flowers, candles, and other mementos.
Many were weeping at the loss they all suffered. On the newsstand nearby, the newspaper were all displaying similar iteration of, "BOMB EXPLODED IN THE SUBWAY; TERRORIST ATTACK SUSPECTED".
"I was there, you know," she said to the man standing beside her. Strange man. He was clad in a dark, three-piece suit in this hot weather. "I was just exiting the station when everything went booom." She sighed sadly at the remembrance. "I barely survived. If the bomb blew up a few seconds faster..."
"Yes, I know," the man said.
"Were you there too?" she asked, surprised.
"I was late then," he confided her. "Three seconds late because a little girl was smiling at me and I had to smile back...it was only polite."
"Pardon me?"
"I will not be late for you, Erin Lloyd," he said as matter-of-factly as he had with the previous statement, his eyes bore into hers as if he was scooping out her secrets just by gazing at her. "I will see you tonight."
Discomfited, the old woman broke away from the staring contest. "Have a good day," she said, not waiting for his response before hightailing it from the scene of tragedy. Her heart was already in a poor condition as it was; Erin really didn't need the extra stress inflicted upon it after all this horrible situation.
Back by the entrance of the station, the man took out an ornate pocket watch, opened it, waited, then closed it.
"HELP!" a shout came from the crowd when a man's jacket caught on fire after a paraffin lamp nestled among the candles spilled on him. "SOMEBODY CALL AN AMBULANCE!"
The fire climbed up his face and his screams joined that of the crowd's as they witnessed the horrifying accident.
Unperturbed by the chaos, the gentleman nodded to himself, securing the watch in his pocket.
Right on time.
Now onto the next place. There were dozens left to collect - the souls that should have departed the day before.
He had been only three seconds late...