Title: Plural life
by Tom from Cheshire | in writing, fiction
PEOPLE STANDING AND SITTING IN THE FORMATION OF A REASONABLY BUSY TUBE CARRIAGE. ALL WEARING EARPHONES. TUBE NOISES, GRADUALLY TRAIN COMES TO A HOLT.
UNDERGROUND: Please mind the gap.
PEOPLE MOVING AROUND. LONDON IS SITTING DOWN. SOME PEOPLE ARE SITTING NEXT TO HIM, SOME STANDING. WORLD ENTERS, HE IS NOT WEARING EARPHONES. SUDDENLY MUSIC BEGINS TO PLAY LOUDLY. THIS CONTINUES FOR A FEW SECONDS. THE MUSIC IS INTERRUPTED BY A VERY MUFFLED VOICE
WORLD: 'Sorry
BEGINS TO MOVE TOWARDS SEAT. THE MUSIC BALANCE SHIFTS FROM STEREO. NOW PLAYING ONLY FROM THE LEFT, WHILE THE NOISE OF A TUBE FILLS THE RIGHT
WORLD: Sorry
MUSIC BECOMES COMPLETELY MUFFLED
LONDON: S'okay
WORLD: Busy!
LONDON: Mmm
WORLD: Got lost in the subway
LONDON: (NODS) Tube's pretty confusin'
PAUSE
WORLD: Makes me feel very small
LONDON: Huh?
WORLD:With all these...
LONDON: (LOOKS UP PROPERLY FOR THE FIRST TIME) Seven and a half million.
PAUSE. WORLD WRIGGLES IN HIS SEAT. IN SOME DISCOMFORT.
WORLD: (SIGHS) Tube seats; the intermediate refuge of the weary.
LONDON: Or Converse wearer. (RUBS FOOT)
BOTH LAUGH
LONDON PLACES LEFT EAR PHONE BACK IN. WE HEAR THE END OF A PIECE OF CONTEMPORARY ROCK MUSIC AND THE CHANGE TO CLASSICAL
WOLRD LOOKS TO LONDON
WORLD: Sound. (PAUSE) No need for words-
LONDON: Orations.
WORLD: Nice.
LONDON: I've read a dictionary
WORLD: Fun?
LONDON: Dunno. Stopped at E.
WORLD LAUGHS. LONDON REMOVES EARPHONES AND TUNRS IPOD OFF.
LONDON: (IN RESPONSE)Not got one?
WORLD: Don't need one.
LONDON: Because...?
WORLD: 'Cos a little bit of everyone else's music creates an irreplaceable symphony
(PAUSE) 79p a song - bloody rip-off!
LONDON: Irreplaceable even a word?
WORLD: (SHRUGS) Sounds like it.
LONDON: Cool. (PAUSE. TURNS TO ASK ANOTHER QUESTION. INTERRUPTED BY UNDERGROUND)
UNDERGROUND: Stand clear.
WORLD: This is me
LONDON: Oh. See you...
WORLD: Yeah. Have a nice...
LONDON: Life?
WORLD LEAVES. LONDON BEGINS TO FIDDLE WITH IPOD - LOOKS AROUND AT ALL THE PEOPLE LISTENING TO MUSIC, STOPS - LAUGHS SLIGHTLY. LEANS BACK.
The world is a vast place - just one city is massive and diverse enough - but increasingly we forget this or just fid ourselves lost within the masses. As we become used to what surrounds us we try our hardest to ignore it, ignore each other - the MP3 player plugs everyone into their own world but removes them from this shared world. However, as young people we're constantly learning and discovering; we can meet people for the shortest period of time and the impression they make on us can be great. Based on this, I wanted to explore the idea of having a meaningful conversation without the superfluous information - no names, ages, home countries and 100 words seemed like the perfect opportunity to create this. In this greatly populous world you can strike up a meaningful conversation of implicit understanding with someone from the opposite side of the world and once this conversation ends, you're probably never see them again - but that merely serves to heighten the importance of those last three minutes of your life.
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