State of Ugliness

On the train this morning two ladies came up to the second floor hoping to find seats next to each other on the four hour ride down to Ft. Worth, Texas. With the seats already full of families and various tourists they ended up sitting apart. The shorter blond haired woman with too much makeup sat in front of me while her tall, stringy hair 80s-wearing jean friend who was missing a few front teeth sat behind me across the isle. That didn’t stop them from having conversations for everyone sitting near them to hear.

I learned about their night out partying on the town, their roommate’s names and jobs, and the deal on shirts they bought at Wal-Mart this week. I also learned about a missing dog.

The lady in front of me listed an ad in the paper earlier this week searching for her missing pit bull. A man who found it called her on her cell phone while in motion on the train. I learned the caller’s entire name, address and phone number as did everyone sitting in the same section. We also learned that the lady lied on the ad so whoever found her dog would return it. She listed that the dog needed expensive medication throughout the day and would be in danger if not with her owner. While creative in advertising the lady lied in order to increase the chances of her dog being returned by just any random dog finder.

She told her friend, sitting a row behind me and across the isle, about her craftiness in story telling after she hung up the phone. The friend asked if the gentleman caller asked for a reward to which she replied with a “NO” followed by her story of a lie.

I was tempted to write down the caller’s phone number and ring him once I got off the train this afternoon. I would have encouraged him to drop the ugly dog off at the pound and walk away. Or, I would have told him to ask her for a reimbursement for a drug he gave the dog after he called a vet and described the current state of her dog since the ad stated it needed meds. It didn't bother me that she lied. It bothered me that she talked so loud that my otherwise pleansant ride was rather annoying with her in my presence. And yes...it was before I had any caffeine this morning so I was being rude in my head.

Instead of my evil wishes coming true the train company fulfilled my silent wishes.

As the train arrived into a certain station the conductor announced that anyone who needed to smoke could get off the train and give into their addictions for two minutes. Leaving their belongings in their seats the annoying ladies quickly stepped foot onto the platform to light up and gab. I silently watched all this from my seat as I scanned the crowd of 15 to 20 passengers all huddled below my window together puffing away. It was a humorous site to see. Over the next two minutes I saw people rushed trying to get in a few good puffs before they stepped back on the train. I also saw two annoying ladies disappear thru some doors into the train station.

After two minutes we started rolling again as the train blew its whistle. At that moment I saw the two ladies run out of the station only to miss our train completely.

There is only one train per day on this route. I guess the short blonde lady with too much makeup won’t be picking up her dog as soon as she had expected. Too bad.