I’m on my way home on the subway, listening to my iPod and minding my own business. The subway isn’t as packed as usual, but there is someone standing next to me, also listening to her music gizmo of choice. The commuters are quiet, yet talk amongst themselves. It’s always hard to find something to do at this point. If you look around and accidentally make eye contact with an unsuspecting stranger, they automatically think you’ve been staring at them all this time. A mood of awkwardness becomes. There is only so many times you can read the ads on the walls, however interesting they may be. And really, if you’re not reading a book or anything, you have to stare at something. What do you do?
That day, I looked out the window as we approached a bridge, allowing a fresh ray of sunlight into the subway. It was peaceful, warm, and… ack, cough, irk, gasp… what in the world?! I suddenly smelled a not-so-pretty aroma that secretly and abruptly violated my sense of peacefulness. Someone had let one loose. Without making an expression nor saying anything out loud, I looked around me only to see the music-listening girl hiding behind her sunglasses with her back against the door, allowing for a perfect execution of what one would think of as being the stealth bomb. It was putrid. Horrendous. Unbelievable. What did she eat earlier that day?! I held my breath for dear life as the music from my iPod still played.
For a split second I thought it would be awkward to move away from the door as she’ll definitely know why I did so. But I wasn’t just about to stay there in that warm and not-at-all fuzzy feeling of an aroma. So I started to walk to the other side of the subway. At that moment, I heard the intercom. My stop was coming up; “what perfect timing,” I thought to myself.
The subway stopped, the door opened, and I made a run for it as far away as I could from that sunglass wearing, music listening girl that forever changed my ride home… for that day.
I walked up to the bright sunlight beaming down on us. Ahh… the fresh air. The cool breeze. It was a gorgeous day indeed.
What a beautiful day it was.
Tagged: aroma, fart, smell, stinky, story, subway, trapped, ttc
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3 Comments
I read the beginning and thought you were going to say you let one go on the subway.
I feel your pain. This has happened on too many instances. Often I would turn to my companion and ask, what did you do??? Sometimes I get the “What? That wasn’t me.” Sometimes I get the, “I’m talented, aren’t I?”
Ken, if I were to let one go, I wouldn’t do it in a confined place where people would know it’s me. At the very least, I’d make sure there were other possible culprits around.
Talented? lol… The talent isn’t so much as the ability to let one go, but rather the ability to make it seem like someone else did. Now that’s talent!