Sunday, August 02, 2020

Train trip with mask

I get off the crowded double-decker train, where everyone was wearing a mask as required, and cross the platform to wait thirteen minutes for my connection. All smiles, frowns, and resting faces are hidden – a constant reminder of the times. The waiting trains on the other tracks are vibrating, the loud and steady snore of a sleep that only ends when they pull out of the station and uncover the silence that was waiting its turn. A child chatters and laughs as he pulls the mask from his mother’s face. “Again!” he cries as she pulls it back on again just as the arrival of my day’s last train is announced. (Andrew Shields, #111words, 2 August)

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