Metro Sightings

His umbrella pierced the air and tapped the ground like a cane as he gingerly stepped out of the sliding metro doors. His impeccable dark blue suit was clearly tailored to fit his short, stocky, frame. Compared to the jeans and bum style sweaters of the others getting off the Barcelona metro, he stood out as an emblem of cleanliness and superiority. His walk was slightly effeminate. More like the waddle of a mother duck. He waddled proudly with his head held high looking straight in front of him. For some reason the crowd parted and stayed parted behind him as though he were a boat with a wake. There was some commotion at the entrance to the moving escalator. People pushed up against him and around him. He was stopped there. Was he waiting for something? Or someone? He stood still, patiently and proudly. I walked up and halted in surprise. Rising to a mere 2 feet there appeared the top of a little girls head covered in brown curls. He pulled back his umbrella and gently pushed her along with it until she was standing on the escalator. He stepped on and they stood side by side looking up and ahead. I stood behind them and tried to memorize everything about them so that I could tell you after. She was wearing a red windbreaker and a checkered skirt above a pair of light blue jeans and pink Adidas tennis shoes. All these things were so tiny, they would have fit a large doll. I have never been good in judging children’s ages, but she was young and small, standing in full height, she probably reached my knee. They did not speak or even look at one another.

At the top of the first moving stairway, the man stepped off without even looking down and headed in the direction of the second escalator. Without the least bit of fear, the little girl crouched down very low and at the last moment when the moving stair was about to hit the concrete floor, she jumped up very high and landed on the floor. Without any hurry, she raised her head high and walked in the direction of the prestigious blue suited back. Again at the entrance to the second escalator, he stopped and let some people pass without in any way letting anyone know that he was with someone else. Without looking down, he used the umbrella to push her along from the back onto the escalator. At that moment, he looked up and I saw the great intelligent eyes pass over me in their Ray Ban eyeglasses. Mid way through the ride up, the girl turned and I realized, her face and eyes were exactly those of his. The eyes were large, brown, patient, and penetrating. She looked me up and down, found me uninteresting, and continued her silent ride up. At the top, he again stepped off calmly and walked in the direction of the metro exit. Again she jumped off and without rushing walked just as proudly behind him. At the exit, several people said hello to the gentleman and he returned their slightly bowed salutations with a nod. I saw him lower his hand without looking down. Without looking up, she raised hers. And swinging the umbrella back and forth along the ground the couple disappeared from view.

There had been less than 10% chance of rain this morning, could he have taken the umbrella simply for effect? By the time I had made it half way up the hill to my work, it was amazingly beginning to sprinkle and rain lightly. I imagined them together under the large umbrella and the thought kept me smiling all day.