One man’s diary
By Chandler Walter, Humour Editor
10:04 It happened. The thing we all so terribly dread. A fate so unyielding in its cruelty that we deny the thought of it ever occurring. But it just happened to me. As I stepped onto the 49 bus for my daily commute to school, something felt wrong. Off. As if I had left a finger, or a limb, at home.
I had forgotten my phone.
The bus doors shut behind me, and the vehicle began to move, but I felt frozen. So many texts left unanswered. So many tweets unread. I took a seat and found I had nothing at all to look at. So here I sit.
10:06 The man in front of me sneezed. I blessed him. He said thank you. That is the most social interaction I will get out of this half hour of misery. A cold chill is creeping up my spine. I feel the panicked sense of being lost, yet I know exactly where I am, and where I’m going. This is probably what the other side of a black hole feels like.
10:10 I have never been on a longer bus ride in my entire life. I found an elastic band in my pocket and played with that for a minute or two, yet it yields simulation nowhere near that of my long-lost phone. I wonder how it is doing. If it misses me too. One day we’ll be together again.
10:13 I’ve taken to gazing out the window. I never knew how blue the sky could be, or how lofty the clouds. There are people out there, and dogs. I wonder if, because dogs can remember other dogs from their smell, they ever think of their little doggy friends when they’re just sitting at home? Or do their brains even have that level of complexity?
10:17 I have never noticed my hands until now. They look so real—right down to the little creases and wrinkles and hairs. Nimble fingers capable of doing so much, of creating so much. I’ve never truly looked at the backs of my hands until now. It’s like I didn’t know them at all.
10:20 The man who sits in front of me has brown hair, though parts of it are grey. The intricate patterns and complexities of brown brown brown grey brown grey brown. It is beautiful. He is beautiful. The metal of the bus is cool to my touch, and my feet feel warm in my boots.
I exist.
Though I was never really aware of it.
10:34 This world is amazing.
