Saw a girl on a tram today. It was pissing down rain outside work and I took the first available tram that almost hit me. I swung my backpack off my shoulders and put it on my lap as I sat down next to a man and across from a girl and an elderly gentleman. The old chap glanced at me briefly to see if I would swipe my tram card. I didn't. I have someone's old year pass and even though you're supposed to swipe it so the transport system can have the most up to date statistics, I like to fuck with them occasionally and not swipe it. But it's not really because I have an innate desire to fuck with the transport system in Melbourne. Most of the time I just really can't be arsed.
So, sensing his disapproval I look to the girl next to him. She's off in her own world reading Time Without Clocks by Joan Lindsay. And she's got this serene smile on her face like she's at a particularly lovely part. She's only about an eighth of the way through the book but already she's happy and it's adding to her growth as a human being. I keep looking at the cuff on her jacket sleeve. She has her arm up on the window ledge and she's wearing a red long-sleeved shirt underneath a stylish black leather jacket that has metal zips at the end bit of the sleeves. A home-made red knitted scarf completes her ensemble and she looks pretty interesting.
Her eyes are sweet and her smile is genuine. It makes me want to smile, too. I wonder why it is that us humans can be so beautiful in certain ways and so ugly in others... I like how she stops and starts reading the book to gaze pensively out the tram window. I do this, too, so it is curious to me watching this other girl. I feel like I might know what she's thinking.
I think she sees me watching her out of the corner of her pretty eyes so I swing my gaze back to the old man. He is still peeved about the tram card. And by this time it was my turn to hop off.
I think I might read Time Without Clocks soon.
