In This Enormous City

A woman, with hunched shoulders, raises a hand and puts a finger in her ear - in her other hand she carries a coat - for nearby a shuddering tram is squealing its way around the square. In the yellow cone of light from one of the street-lamps, a bare-headed man eats chocolate. He uses both hands. While chewing, he holds the chocolate slightly away from his mouth. At the sound of the tram he munches more quickly.

Alex has positioned himself in the entrance to the municipal gardens. There he strikes a provocative attitude and this has some effects. Already, a little way off, a large family wavers; some other people criss-cross the path unwilling to risk getting in; some actually stop to scratch their heads. A slight man but in some sort of uniform, the railways perhaps, who has been holding back so far, now fishes around in his side-pocket and pulls out a sweet; he starts forward, then hesitates, fetches out a few more sweets, and approaches Alex quite boldly with his palm held open to display his gift. Naturally Alex kicks at him sideways and sends him scuttling back to the others.

Then Alex goes right up to a young woman who's been standing there a while with the others, the person he'd spotted a long way off, the one he'd been waiting for. 'Let me reassure you.' he says 'I understand. There is no reason why you should acknowledge me; after all just because a woman addresses one at a cross-roads one morning, a passing comment on the difficulties we were both having in crossing at that particular place - something I am sure you recall - there is no reason to expect her to greet one at a later date. Especially when that morning is some months beforehand. And yet I do indeed give you just a small reprimand perhaps.'

She looks at him blankly. 'You must have been uncomfortable about your silence, such a considerate person as yourself; but I know that once a person has missed her cue, so to speak, it is so very difficult to get out onto the stage. But allow me to say it of your silence - I really do understand it even if I make this small criticism.'

Yet Alex has got the woman wrong. He sees it right away. She presses together her hands - which are rolled into fists - in front of her neck. Quickly Alex gets in first. 'It's no use your making fists,' comments he, 'I don't take a bit of notice of that insult . . .' 

She runs to the others, her shoes clicking swiftly and, to Alex, annoyingly on the pavement. There she breathes heavily while they ply her with questions. When they turn back to Alex they see that he has one of the boys with him. No-one knows what he did to coax the child over; in any case it's clear that he's not going to let the boy return for he's got hold of the collar. There's nothing else for it: the boy's father goes for the police.

Straightway Alex releases the child; he stumbles forth towards the receding back of the man, showing with both arms the now free boy. But almost immediately the man has returned urging a puffing policeman to hurry and catch up.

Alex rests a foot against the bench by the park railings and watches the policeman sweep off his hat before the group - something Alex knows is done by policemen to avoid intimidation - and after some discussion the policeman unscrews his pen then turns to Alex.

Alex quickly puts them all to rights. It's not the grabbing the child's collar that matters; that was possibly only a jest; who knows?; no it's the young woman, over there, the friendly word one moment, the next moment complete indifference, that's the thing that matters. 'See! She recognized me in the distance just as I did her.' - the woman to her credit nods slowly - 'That's where the punishment needs to fall.' He ignores the complaints of the audience which has grown a little larger than it was at the beginning of the pavement drama, an audience which also is not shy at making its thoughts known.

Banging heavily against its iron rails, the tram passes very close. Alex rolls away and jumps up quickly. How long has he been sleeping since that trouble with the woman at the park entrance? It's getting dark now. All around this undulating city, this enormous city, is visible. A well-dressed man carrying an umbrella hooked over one arm, is approaching. Alex stands sideways-on intending to fling his arms over his head, yet even before he has time to twitch a finger the umbrella man raises his own arm to consult his disinterested watch, and in this one movement easily brushes Alex off.

Alex heads off to his room. He comforts himself though with his conviction that, even if the other things are wrong, at least he is right about the woman.