“But you know this better than me, if people make the greatest fuss over little things … yes, something in the news … no, not worth anybody’s attention, yes, then it’s because they won’t give in to the big thing they’d love to talk about but can’t … yes, they would lose their human independence, you know this … he makes light of things so he can laugh…” – long interruption. Outside the red traffic light trickles on the fogged-up windows, and headlights are humid circles of irregular drops, as cars cut in in front of the bus, to the right, to the left, major road work ahead, a lane closed off to circulation, the law of the jungle on slippery black tar. – “… that’d backfire. What does his face look like? … I thought so. And the other’s the same? Listen, hold on, I’ve got to open the umbrella…”
PaperShots 
“The big thing they’d love to talk about but can’t” Yes… I have a list of those and I don’t talk about them.
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i know. i guess we all have these big things. this conversation on the bus just struck me. he sounded like a psychologist given the matter-of-fact tone in his voice, yet he seemed to care about whoever it was he was having a conversation about. then he got off.
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I love random bits of conversation on public transportation — and in restaurants, especially the kind where you take-out food. Sometimes you hear the most amazing things.
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so true. I used to filter them when writing, now i just rewrite them, no need to tamper with the original material. Most of them anyway. 😉
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