Vitreous Humor
During a visit to Michigan, my friend H told me about a news story she read. The story discussed a call for foreign applicants to observe–from their own country–the closed-circuit television feeds from London and report suspicious and illegal activity. Privacy issues were raised, but I quickly turned my attention to the psychodramatic possibilities:
I imagined myself as an Ethiopian, sitting in my home office, hunched over a computer, watching the high and lows of bustling commuters, travelers, and the like. During a lull, I’m staring at the screen of one particular metro stop, my metro stop, the stop I guard vigorously. The static features of the scene: signs, the lines in the concrete, the cracks on the walls, pieces of persistent trash, have all become etched into my retina. I look away when the tea kettle whistles and see the negative of that metro stop in the direction of my kitchen.
I continue this imagined scenario, to the time when my Ethiopian wife, myself, and our two kids take a holiday in London, of all places. We ride trains to the tourist destinations. The metro stop that funded this trip is the furthest thing from my mind. On a subway ride to the Tate Museum, my daughter needs to use the bathroom. We get off at the very next station. My wife takes our daughter, I take our son. We are making our way toward the stairs, I look back and my sight momentarily vanishes. It returns as quickly as it left. I slowly turn my head to the left and right, the room vanishes at about one o’clock. Odd, but familiar.
It strikes me like lightening. I drop my bag, stand motionless, mouth agape. This. Is. My. Metro. Stop. My son tugs at my arm, pulling me out of my trance. I holler to my wife to take him with her and that I’ll wait for them here. I find the CCTV camera behind me and perch below it. I sit and I watch. During a lull I imagine myself sitting in my home office, hunched over a computer watching the high and lows of bustling commuters, travelers, and the like.
These feels likes something out of a Philip K Dick novel.
Comment by Jesse — Wed 24 Feb 10 @ 11:12 AM