Chapter5 Airport outside

I step outside the airport, between sweeping glass-doors, inhaling deep with hopes of a fresh breath escape from the bland air inside. The air is thick & tastes empty from consumption by the constant traffic and surrounding crowds.

The enclosure of this space, nestled between airport walls, doesn’t do justice to the usually clean city air. Traffic to my left is steady, every other vehicle yellow and green with ‘Taxi’ dimly lit on top.

I walk the thirty-feet to the bus stop, slowly, taking in the subtleties of those loitering up ahead: older man reading a paper on the bench, mother with young son and daughter, half-dozen business professionals, briefcases by their sides.

On approach, the late 50s gentleman holding the business section isn’t reading, his gaze is fixed somewhere else, out of sight for everyone but him. The business professionals are all kinds of distracted in distant conversations with others, visible somewhere, but not here. There was a time one could judge the sanity of others on the street walking or standing alone in intense conversation, now it’s unclear if they’re crazy or invisibly connected.