[MF] The Crowd

“Can’t see you”

“Wait. Do you see the purple one?”

He rushed towards the purple flag without replying to the text after rotating half a circle to locate it. “Seems like you’ve seen it” she waved. Her waves were capturing with her newly made long nails, tattoos on her fingers and gentle movement of her hands. “I’m sorry. I’m late” he waved. “It’s okay” she stared. “It’s the crowd” he waved. The never ending joke was making a comeback again but it was still a risky one. She smiled.

He pulled out a faded red rope from his backpack. She grabbed the other end and jumped into the busy sidewalk. Her hand was disappearing and reappearing in the crowd at the end of the rope. He saw her outfit for the first time when a miraculous void happened in the center of the crowd for a brief second. She was wearing a brown dress. Her hand was the only occasional view other than the red rope he was holding onto for the rest of the walk.

They arrived at the coffee shop after not so many bumps and turns. They waved two espressos. He nervously put the red rope back into his backpack as she observed him. She was capturing everything with her eyes not sparing a moment. He was too shy to stare on the first date. “Your dress is beautiful” he waved. “How lucky to witness a void” she waved. “It was very short” he waved, finding the courage to look at her this time. The muffled buzzing of the hands of the crowd was muted all of a sudden in his head when he gazed at her face lit by the green light of the table. They locked eyes for some seconds ignoring the constant movement on the background before the coffee arrived.

He was gazing at the coffee, swirling between sips. A baby screeched from the crowd. The crowd didn’t react. She moved her head in the direction before she realized what she was doing. “Hard to get used to” she waved. “Try getting on one of the all-talking-age flights” he waved. “All-talking-age flight?” she waved. “Did you ever wonder why there are no babies on the flights anymore?” he waved. “They fly on different planes until they are of no-talking age” he continued. “Do you have a child?” she waved. “No, I work for an airline” he waved. “A pilot?” she waved. “I wish. How peaceful it must be in the cockpit. I order stuff on flights” he answered. “Order stuff?” she waved. “It makes other people order stuff when they see someone else do it. They pay more if we do all-talking-age flights” he waved. “Really?” she whispered. The crowd moved and grumbled before she quickly gestured sorry. The crowd returned back to its normal buzzing frequency, luckily, without a single hush uttered. “Didn’t know that was a thing” she waved after shaking off the shame. “It feels like the old world in those flights” he waved.

The light turned yellow. She chugged her coffee, took out a purple rope and put her bag on her shoulder. He was ready to go too. The light turned red right as they were leaving. A couple replaced them immediately as they walked off the small chair-less table. He was trying to catch a glimpse of her hand at the end of the purple rope through the crowd. They came to another resting spot. “It was very nice” she waved. “See you next time” he waved. She smiled and waved bye before she became part of the crowd again. She disappeared fast into the crowd before he could observe more of parts of her silhouette. He felt his excitement before the crowd growled and claimed him back.