Why Bother

Standing alone in the crowd, the only thing that Stanton wanted was for the place to be empty. It was too loud for him. Too noisy. Too active. As he stood waiting, an announcement blared across the station.

“The train to Zhang Zhou will be leaving in five minutes!”

Stanton ignored it as people milled around him. Now that he looked again, the station he was at looked like an ant colony. With too many people, and too much chaos. Being in the train station a day before Chinese New Year in Shanghai, well… It was hectic. Babies cried, children ran, and parents busied themselves with things that had to take care of. Stanton was not here for any of that. Still, he waited. He was here for something else.

Time for him passed slowly, crawling like a slug. A while later, he felt a tug on his pants. He turned around to see a little boy, with tears running down his face.

“I can’t find my parents!”

The kid was crying, his voice almost a wail. Stanton didn’t want to deal with him right now. But, he rethought, thinking that he can’t just leave a kid alone in this mess of a station.

“Fine. Come with me.”

The kid burst into more tears, and people stared at Stanton with annoyance as they passed. He wanted to scoff at them. It was ironic that other parents would find other kids annoying when they couldn’t control their own. He’d seen this too many times.

Stanton squatted down and looked into the boy’s eyes.

“I’ll bring you to someone who’ll find your parents, okay? For now, eat this candy.”

The boy stopped crying and nodded, sniffling, as Stanton handed the boy the matcha flavored candy in his pocket. He was saving this for later. It was too bad that he had to give it up.

Stanton grabbed the kid’s hand and brought him along. They passed crowds, stores, and slowly, they headed towards the announcement room.

“Will my parents be there?” The little boy asked as the pair stood, waiting as the elevator rose.

“No. But once the person there makes an announcement, they’ll come or you.”

The two continued to ride the elevator in silence. The door eventually swished open, and Stanton held the boy’s hand before ushering him along. In no time, they arrived at the announcement room. The lady inside was sitting down, organizing the papers on her table.

Stanton cleared his throat and knocked on the door.

“Yes?”

“I found this kid alone. He says he lost his parents,” Stanton explained. He opened the door and walked inside, the little boy following his lead.

The lady looked over at the kid and asked sweetly, “What’s your name and age?”

“I’m Wang Jin-Hui, and I’m five,” The boy muttered quietly, glancing up at the lady.

“Okay. Your parents will be here soon.”

The lady got to work and got the announcement out. Stanton stayed with the boy while they waited for his parents to come get him. Time passed, and soon it was clear that his parents were either gone, forgotten him, or had abandoned him. Stanton didn’t know what to do.

“I’ll keep him here for now. Thank you,” The lady said, smiling at Stanton. Stanton nodded and left the room, heading back to where he stood to wait. 

Back at his spot, there was another commotion taking place. A couple was fighting this time. Stanton sighed and rubbed his temples. Why did he voluntarily spend so much energy waiting for that man?

The couple continued to bicker, their argument seeming to never end.

“I told you to make sure to have my back!”

“I did! I just went and got some more items! I didn’t know that they’d strike then!”

Stanton listened in. What were they talking about? He was curious.

“I told you to stay with me all the time!”

“Okay! Okay! I’m sorry, okay!?” The boyfriend shouted. He clearly looked tired and stressed. Stanton felt sorry for the guy, even though he may not know what they were arguing about. It reminded him of his past relationship and it made him shiver.

Stanton raised an eyebrow. What were they talking about though, to have to be so loud?

“The next time we play, make sure you‘re with me.”

“Fine.”

Stanton looked away. Play? 

“Let’s play another round of PUBG later.”

The couple moved on and Stanton wanted to facepalm himself. Right… 

Then he thought about how childish their argument really was. He didn’t think that they’d last long. As he waited, nothing else happened much. Until… it did. Some man tripped over him, on purpose, and said that he hurt his arm. Then he demanded money for the hospital bill. Stanton wanted to roll his eyes. It was painfully and obviously fake. But people these days didn’t do that often. And of course, Stanton had to come across one who did.

“No. You’re not hurt,” Stanton said.

“I AM HURT. Look at my arm!”

Stanton reached his arm back, ready to smack the man. The man put his hands up to defend himself. Of course, Stanton was not going to hit the man. He only had to prove that his arm was okay.

“Look. You can use both your arms. You’re fine,” Stanton said. The other guy glared at him, and left, flustered.

After all this, Stanton really was tired of waiting. Luckily, when he turned back around, he knew that ‘he’ had come. The man with the flyers was back. Stanton hurried to the guy with a weary smile.

“You’re back?” He asked. 

“Yup.”

“Here. Make sure to order lots.”

Stanton received the flyer and coupons and left, grinning. The flyer and coupons were for take-out from this one special restaurant, and they were very hard to come by. The only place he could get some was from this man who came every Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Not to mention, he only had one. As he was about to leave, someone shouted out at him.

“YOU EGG, HOW DARE YOU STEAL MY COUPONS!”

Stanton turned around to see his arch-nemesis, the bald man. He was a big guy, with a shining head. They both had the same taste, and both loved the food from the restaurant. Stanton smirked and waved the coupon and flyer in his hand before dashing off into the crowd.

“COME BACK YOU-”

Stanton didn’t hear the rest of it. The combined noise of the station drowned out the bald man’s voice. Maybe the noise in the station wasn’t so bad after all.