Passing

Here’s my rough draft for today, Tuesday 05.12.26.

I’m on one of those horizontal escalators.  Most airports have them now, although some, like this one, are longer than others, helping you cover more ground fast.

In the distance, I see someone who looks like an old friend step onto the one that runs parallel to mine in the opposite direction.  As we get a bit closer to each other, I call out his name.  He looks around, then sees me coming. Waving, he smiles that smile, the one that always radiated warmth.

He’s waving, I’m waving.  “Long time no see,” I yell.

Still smiling, he laughs and nods.

What are the chances, I think, that we would meet here?

Closing on him, I call out, “How are you doing?”

We’re still not close enough, and he’s quite elderly.  He cups his hand to his ear.

Now within earshot, I think, I ask again, even louder to make sure he hears, “It’s me, Lanning Lee.”

Hand still to ear, he shakes his head.

Now, only three yards apart, I still say quite loudly, “How are you doing?”

He smiles and waves, nodding, but not responding.

And then, oddly, he waves again, but not at me.  It’s someone else, someone behind me.

We’re now shoulder to shoulder.  “How are you doing?” I ask one more time.

He’s still holding his hand to his ear, and he waves to the person coming up behind me, passing me by, as if he never even saw me.  As if it’s been too long for him to recognize me, pay attention to me.

But I try one more time, hoping he’ll hear me, call out his name from behind.  He doesn’t even look back.  God.

Embarrassed, I reach the end of the ride.  There’s a sudden jolt as I step off.  The escalator has frozen.  A mechanical problem. Turning around, I see the escalator on his side has stopped as well, just as he and that other person are side by side.  I watch them embrace, old acquaintances.  To him, I’m not that anymore.

For that moment, while I watch them, it’s as if time stands as still as the walkway.  Then I turn and keep heading toward the gate. Maybe it’s more than the way I look now.  Maybe, I wonder, I’ve become invisible.