Is This Seat Taken?

“Excuse me, is this seat taken?”       

        “Please,” the long haired man in the hoodie said, waving a hand over towards the empty seat the young woman stood by. “Help yourself.”

        “Thanks,” she said, putting her tray down and sliding smoothly into the seat without having to pull it out any.

He looked at her. He wondered whether he should say something, or maybe it would be better if they both ate in silence. She was cute. Did that make a difference. He felt like it shouldn’t. He tried to put it aside and figure out if he’d want to talk to her if she wasn’t cute. Life was always so confusing.

She flipped open her burger box and opened a sachet of mayo into one corner of the lid and chilli sauce into the other. She took the top bun off her burger and held it cupped in the palm of her hand then took a few French fries in her other hand, rubbed them through first the mayo, then the chilli sauce, and used them like a knife to spread the two sauces across the underside of the bun top. She put it back on the burger, then took a big sip of her cola and leaned back. She noticed the boy opposite was watching her. She looked away, down at her food, and a number of options began to scroll through her mind.

“Where are you going?” she asked, settling on polite conversation.

        “Huh?” was the first thing he thought to that, and he said it and instantly wished he hadn’t.

        “Where are you going?” she asked again, pointing out of their seating area at the people moving about, rushing or ambling absentmindedly all over the place.

        “Oh,” he said. “Yeah. Of course. I’m going home. To see my parents.”

        “And where’s home?”

        “Where my parents live,” he repeated.

        She looked at him. Right at him. And then she laughed.

        He realized. “They live in Scotland,” he said. “I’m flying to Glasgow.”

        “Nice.”

        “Yeah,” the conversation lagged there, until he thought of something. “How about you?”

        She acknowledged this with a dry smile. “I’m going to Kuala Lumpur,” she said.

        He nodded and smiled and tried to remember where that was. “What are you going there for?”

        She smiled and shrugged. “Why not?” and took a big bite of her burger.

        They ate in silence for a while. Some fries, a few bites of burger, a drink.

“My name’s Kelly,” she said with a smile and a nod of the head.

        “I’m Dan,” he said and nodded back. He thought to shake her hand, but then he realised how awkward this would be across the table top. 

        “Nice to meet you, Dan from Glasgow.”

        “Likewise, Kelly who’s going to Kuala Lumpur.”

They both ate slowly. Dan didn’t like eating with strangers and Kelly was checking her phone as much as she was eating. Dan watched this and thought about asking who she was talking to. Was that wrong? He thought maybe it was, so he didn’t do it.

        All this time, a steady flow of people came in for food and ate and left.

        Dan hadn’t realised just how busy it was getting in there until he heard a throat being cleared above him and close by. He and Kelly looked up at the same time.

        The man was maybe in his forties. He was older than them anyway. Could have been their teacher, Dan thought, looking up.

        “I’m sorry to interrupt,” the man said. “But would you mind if I joined you?”

        Dan looked to Kelly, as if needing her input.

        “No problem,” said Kelly.

        “Thank you,” said the older man, taking the seat next to Dan. “It’s so busy in here.”

        “People gotta get their burgers,” Kelly said.

        “Indeed,” the man agreed.

        Dan was watching him out of the corner of his eye. He was sitting very close. He worried that his elbows would hit the man.

“I’m Norman,” said the man, once he was comfortable. Kelly looked at Dan, expecting him to speak. He didn’t       

He let the silence hang there. “I’m Kelly,” she said. “That’s Dan.”

        Dan blushed.

        “I’m sorry to intrude on your meal time,” said Norman.  “Mi mesa es su mesa,” she said.

        “You speak Spanish?” asked Norman. “Es muy bonito conocerte.”

        “Er…” Kelly grimaced. “Sorry,” she said. “I don’t. Just, like, phrases.”

        “Oh,” said Norman. “I’m sorry.”

        “No worries,” she said. “I think I got what you said, more or less, but there’s no point leading you on, you know.”

        “I see,” said Norman. “Good thinking.”

        “Yeah.”

        “If you don’t mind me asking,” Norman said after a few moments. “Are you two married?”

        “No,” said Dan, quietly. His cheeks flushed again.

        “Oh,” said Norman. “I am sorry. You’re dating?”

        Dan shook his head quickly from side to side. Kelly didn’t say anything, she was watching Dan, amused by his discomfort, but also feeling a bit sorry for him.

Norman looked at the two of them closely. “Are you brother and sister?” he asked.

        “No,” said Dan again.

        “Unless my parents have been keeping something from me,” Kelly said.

        Dan laughed at this, high pitched and fast, then took a big gulp of his drink. He seemed to be hoping to hide behind it. Norman nodded his head, satisfied, and unfolded his napkin, which he placed on his lap. It reminded Kelly of her grandfather. She took him to a local outlet of this same burger chain once, to her knowledge the only time he’d ever eaten American fast food. When she’d presented him with his burger and fries, he’d struggled to reconcile eating without a knife and fork. And as for serving a cup of tea like that… memories. She bit a fry in half and chewed on it slowly. She wasn’t hungry, but she knew she should eat.  

Kelly noticed that Norman was watching her. All eyes on Kelly today! She met his look with a smile. She felt that maybe she recognized him. Where from? Where had she seen him before?

“So then, Norman,” she asked. “Business or pleasure?"

“I beg your pardon?” he asked.

“What’s the reason you’re travelling today?” she asked.

Norman chuckled. "I see. I suppose you could say both," he said.

"Interesting answer," said Kelly. "Or is it evasive? What do you think Dan?"

Dan looked from one to the other. "I don't know," he said.

        Kelly rolled her eyes.

        “I don’t mean to be vague,” Norman said. “But it’s such an inconclusive set of options. There must be countless reasons to travel which don’t fall into either category, don’t you think? And many more that fall into both.”

        “I guess so,” Kelly said.

        “However,” Norman continued. “On this occasion, I am on my way to complete a piece of business which I have been looking forward to for a long time, so I think that business and pleasure is an adequate phrase.”

        “Right-o,” said Kelly. “Nuff said.”

        Did she recognize him? Where from?

        Dan looked at Norman and at Kelly. He felt that something intense was going on, but he wasn’t sure what it was. He put his head down and took another gulp of drink. He looked down into the cup and swirled it around. It was mainly ice cubes now. He’d have to get a refill.

When Dan came back with his topped up drink, Kelly and Norman were in the middle of a conversation. He sat down softly, as if worried he’d disturb them, and tried to pick up the gist of what they were saying.

        It was about travelling, that much he could tell easily. Norman was describing somewhere he’d been, or maybe somewhere he was going to and it seemed Kelly had been there too. Or wanted to go there.

        Norman was saying something about death traps and taking your life in your hands. Dan imagined having his life in his hands. He imagined holding his heart and watching it beat.

Dan wanted to join the conversation.

He could only think of stupid things to say. He conducted a condemnatory internal conversation with himself: Why can’t you think of anything interesting to say? Why are you so stupid? At least make sure you smile at the right times. Don’t just exist. Be a part of it. These are examples of the things he tortured himself with. But what should he talk about?

Blind pilots with big yellow dogs to help them, the way seals use tools to crack open their food, the fact certain fast food franchises have recycling bins in store even though their containers can’t be recycled. These are some of his rejected ideas for conversation starters. He is out of practice. He was with Blaire for so long. They just talked like this. They had their own little world and it was all so simple. Functioning back in this one of strangers and being inappropriate and not being weird was hard. It was scary.  

        “Yeah,” Kelly was saying. “So I told him; screw him, and the horse he rode in on.”

        Norman chuckled at this. “Very much the independent spirit.”

        “Hell yeah,” said Kelly Pulling herself up tall and proud before sinking back into her seat with a raucous laugh.

“My brother stole a horse once,” Dan said.

        “Pardon?” asked Norman.

        Dan looked from Norman to Kelly. He smiled at her. “He wasn’t being cruel to it,” he explained. “It was in a field and he took it with him when he was just walking through the field and he tried to take it home. I think he wanted to ride it, but he didn’t have a saddle.”

        Kelly was looking at him. Her eyes were wide.

        “That’s… interesting,” said Norman. “Your brother sounds like a character.”

Dan wished he could be quiet, but he’d started now. He couldn’t just clam up. Could he?

“He is,” said Dan. “He’ll do just about anything.”

“A regular urban cowboy,” said Norman.

Dan wasn’t sure what to say to that, so he just nodded. The table lapsed into silence and knew it was his fault. He wanted to apologize, but he didn’t know how without making things more awkward. He wanted to crawl deep inside himself and peer out from a distance as if he was watching something else. He wondered what Blaire was doing right now.

As the silence dragged on, Norman checked his watch. There was no need to, he could see the time clearly on the screen over to the side of Kelly’s shoulder, and besides, he knew he had a lot of time left over. He couldn’t help it though. Checking his watch was a habit. The thing he hated the most about the modern world was that the more technology advanced, the less people seemed to care about punctuality. Good time keeping had become somehow antiquated. He glanced at his watch again. Twenty-four hours then, let’s see how things look after that.

        He looked down at his tray and pulled a face at it internally. The food tasted no better than its container probably did. Still, if this was the price for travelling low key, so be it. He looked out across the thoroughfare, and the shops lining the opposite side. He watched the people and he tried to reduce them to their essence.

Kelly was starting to get bored. She felt angry. She was used to this, and she was used to not knowing why. She thought about leaving the table, or about doing something drastic. She’d been feeling restless, and actually getting up and going somewhere was supposed to make her feel better. Hopefully. She’d picked somewhere she didn’t know much about. Somewhere that sounded exotic, and where nobody else she knew had been, as far as she knew. It was the first time she’d travelled alone. The first time she’d travelled so far. She was scared, and she was angry at herself for being scared, and she sure wasn’t going to tell these two strangers any of it.

        She looked at Norman, the lunch’s father figure, she figured, and he didn’t seem to be there anymore. She leaned forwards to get into his line of sight but he didn’t twitch. She waved a hand in front of him.

        “Earth to Norman,” she said.

        Norman snapped out of it with a shake of the head and an exhalation of breath that sounded more wheezy than he’d like. “Excuse me,” he said. “I was… thinking about something.”

        “A penny for them,” said Kelly.

        Dan watched the transaction taking place. He wondered what he’d say if Kelly asked what he was thinking. He wanted to know, but then he also didn’t.

        “I think you’ll find what’s in here,” said Norman, tapping the side of his head. “Is worth far more than that.”

        “Do tell,” said Kelly, leaning forwards.

        Norman chuckled softly. “Where to begin? There’s a lifetime tucked in here.”

        “Pft,” said Kelly. “I thought you were going to dish something then.”

        Norman raised his hands apologetically. “What do you think people think about when they walk through airports?” he asked.

        Kelly looked to her side. “They think about what they want and where they’re going,” she said.

        “Maybe,” said Norman.

        “They think about crashes,” said Dan, looking into his cup. “They think about planes crashing and their baggage going to the wrong place and hold-ups, and they imagine they’ll be the only survivor by some miracle.”

        Kelly looked at Dan open mouthed.

        “Interesting,” said Norman. “Is that what you think?”

        “That’s what I think they think,” said Dan, still not looking up.

        “Very interesting,” said Norman, looking closely at the young man sitting next to him now.

        “Wait a minute,” said Kelly. “What are you? Some kind of psychiatrist or something?”

        Norman laughed at this. “That’s funny,” he said. “I was going to be, once, but I had a change of heart.”

        “Oh yeah?” asked Kelly.

        “Very much so,” Norman said.

        “Why?”

        “I realized…” Norman paused for a moment, and then figured there was no harm in a little talk. “I realized that talking to people isn’t enough to help them.”

        “Why not?”

        “You have to show them,” Dan said, close to a whisper.

        Norman was shocked. Looking at Dan, he broke into a wide smile. “Exactly,” he said. “Because even though they now what’s best for them, people very rarely act on it.”

        “Like homework,” said Dan.

        “Homework?” Kelly asked.

        “When you’re a kid,” Dan explained. “You know that you have to do your homework. You know that you’ll get punished if you don’t. You might even fail a class or get a bad grade that could ultimately affect your whole future. So you know you should get it one as soon as you get home, but how many times did you actually do that?”

        “Er… none,” said Kelly.

        “That is excellent,” said Norman.

        Dan blushed and had another gulp. He reminded himself to stop at the bathroom before he went to his gate.

        Norman was looking at this boy with a new found respect. He had a lot of potential. But what was he going to do here? Tell these two youngsters that the three of them really had to keep in touch and exchange phone numbers? That didn’t work at all. If he had more time… If he didn’t have more pressing matters…

This was, he considered, turning into a singular lunch. He wondered what kind of omen that bore for the rest of the trip.

Dan felt hot and bothered. He wasn’t sure how he’d become the centre of attention. He was just trying to join in. He looked over at the board with all the times on. He probably shouldn’t take too much longer. He wanted to walk a bit before all the sitting down. His legs were long and didn’t fit comfortably in the allotted gap so he should treat them right now. And he had to remember to go to the bathroom. He reminded himself again. He’d drunk a lot and he didn’t like plane bathrooms. He always felt like they were going to fold in on him from all sides. Sometimes he thought he might be claustrophobic.

        He finished his burger and the few fries that were left and decided to take his drink with him. “Excuse me,” he said, standing up with more of a jerking motion than he’d intended. “I should get going.”

        “Ok,” said Kelly. “Nice to meet you.”

        “Nice to meet you too,” said Dan.

        “Take it easy,” she added. “And have fun in Scotland.”

        “I will,” he said. “And you too. Only, not in Scotland of course,” he laughed. “In…”

        “Kuala Lumpur.”

        “Yes,” said Dan.

        “Dan,” said Norman. “Before you leave, do you mind if I ask you what your surname is?”

        “No,” said Dan. “It’s Watterson. Why?”

        “No reason,” said Norman, making a mental note. “Just curious.”

        “Ok,” said Dan.

        “Take care of yourself,” said Norman.

        “I will.”

        “Good,” said Norman. “I think it might snow soon.”

        “I don’t think so,” said Dan. He thought to explain in detail why this seemed unlikely, but he was standing now and he felt awkward just standing there, so he decided to keep it short. “It’s much too early for that,” he said.

        Norman made a clicking sound and nodded his head slowly at Dan. “You’d be surprised,” he said.