Traffic

Ch 21: Familiar

"Make that thing shut up!"

"Jeez make it stop!"

"Please make your baby stop crying."

The complaints started an hour previous and got worse as the baby cried. Kelly held it firmly, bouncing and rocking it, trying to get him to stop, but he wouldn't.

"Maybe he's hungry! Feed the damn thing!" One woman suggested.

His mother was fast asleep with earplugs in and an eye ask on, blocking everything out. Kelly didn't want to wake her, but eventually, she had to.

"Excuse me," she said, gently nudging the woman with her knee.

She woke up after a few more nudges and was startled to see Kelly holding her baby who was crying loudly.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! You should have woken me earlier. I'm so sorry, it's past his feeding time."

Kelly carefully gave the baby back to his mother and went back to her seat. It soon quieted down and she was suddenly extremely sleepy. She nodded off within five minutes and dreamt of Derek and his home and her life with him. In her dream, he was kind to her and gentle with her and didn't treat her unfairly. She wished he had been that way more than the last several months of her being there. She might not have hated him so much.

She was awoken by a stewardess upon arriving at the next station. She stood and walked out onto the platform, looking around nervously.

She found a phone booth and paid a few cents to make a call. She didn't know at first who she was going to call, but her mind made its self up as she found without knowing that she was dialing Derek's number. He answered and she was startled, so she hung up. She didn't know why she was in the phone booth, but she liked that she was without the bustle of moving people. As she stood in it, she hoped the traffic of people would thin out so she could find her way to a taxi.

"Are you lost?"

She whirled around to see the kind man who'd woken her earlier, standing there, watching her.

She shook her head, then paused and nodded, "I need a taxi..."

"Okay. How about you ride with me in mine and I'll drop you off wherever you need to go?"

"No tha--"

"I insist. Please?"

"I don't really...Its just that..." she sighed, not wanting to tell him too much for fear he'll do something to her, "I just don't trust people easily..." she mumbled.

"I promise I won't touch you. Will you let me do you this favor?"

She hesitantly agreed, exiting the booth and following him to a car.

"Where's your luggage? I'll get it for you."

"I-I don't have any luggage..."

"How can you be traveling and have no luggage?" he asked with a chuckle, "Seriously, where is it?"

Kelly stood, staring at him. He sobered again and nodded, "Okay, I'm sorry, I didn't know if--Okay...Go on...Get in."

She started to get in, but when she saw the driver, she backed up again, "I'll walk."

She turned to go. The boy chased after her, "Wait!"

She stopped, turning. He was several feet away, but stopped and spoke, "At least give me your phone number?"

"I don't have a phone."

He sighed, anxious that he was running out of options, "Home address?"

She shook her head, not even knowing if her family still lived there, "I don't know," she whispered, beginning to walk away again. The platform was growing more crowded, but the boy pushed his way through, calling out, "At least tell me your name!"