voie f
The train from Nimes to Port Bou crosses through the middle of tidal flats and looking out the window you’d think the train was waterskiing. It’s a view that you can’t quite understand because you can’t see the track underneath, and because of that, you’d rather not try, and imagine the possibility that you are divine. If you didn’t know better, you’d think you might be jesus.
The madame with her fru-fru dog asleep on your foot, and the broken-nosed skinhead asleep on your right shoulder actually add to your feeling of levity. The uppity Canadian on your left talking to you about the virtue of slowing life down while explaining how to finance a vacation to Barcelona off the profits of ticket scalping, is isolating himself as the only thorn in your bubble. But even he is prone to moments of glowing. Mostly when he stops talking.
The Algerian woman who only speaks French and has picked up her shirt and showed you her first-trimester invites you to come to lunch at her sister’s house during your layover between trains. You politely decline because you think you have misunderstood.
The train going from Port Bou to Barcelona is a paella of sloppy students in the aisles on top of backpacks and sleeping bags. The stray strangers, commuting on a Friday are huddled in the standing areas, aware of their place between youth and the infirm, hugging the sides. Empty bottles of local wine knock around and French kids with mullets piss out the door onto the platform at every stop. The train stops fifteen minutes from Barcelona, and stays put for another forty-five. No explanation, lightning. One of the Frenchies pisses in the wine bottle because the door won’t open. A lady relays this in Spanish to her boyfriend on the telephone. You only know this because the Frenchie looks at her and tucks himself in real fast, suddenly shy. Smiles everywhere. The longer the train stays seated in the midst of a thunderstorm fifteen minutes from diaspora, the longer you hope the storm lasts. And the more you remember that you will be alone again too soon.