Outlived and Remembered

We thought it was fun although we looked a bit odd. Two males and the others were females. In our late 20s and they were barely adults. Foreigners but the girls were nationals. Besides, each one held an umbrella, but we both held one umbrella. We took our places in the queue though. Rain and curious looks did not want to stop.

I wondered few times before about those men and women who sat individually, in silence, on chairs in the empty streets of downtown at night. A small table was usually set in front of him/her on which a lonely lamp sent out a weak light. I could not understand then what they were supposed to do.

I was with my friend standing in line next to the one who seemed, judging by the long queue, the most popular. We also choose him because of the bilingual sign set on his table.

The shops were closed and the street did not have restaurants or cafes, so everything was dead.

The line moved slowly and when we became the first in line there was some distance, effective enough to keep the revealing stream of the unknown unheard, separating us from the forty something man with the untidy beard and moustache. I let my friend goes first. Less than 10 minutes later came my turn.

“Did he tell you something?” my friend asked me when we hurried to the subway station. “I am not quite sure” I added “He said when I reach 38 years old, a big change will occur in my life”. “Let us run, I hear the sound of the train coming” he said.