The intense smell of vinegar made me sick to my stomach. I couldn’t bear the thought of him coming into that bus, talking and talking and talking about pointless aspects of his life, stinking of that freaking vinegar. As usual, because my life is absolutely boring, I got on the bus at 8:15, expecting a long ride to my workplace. I was praying from the deepest parts of my soul not to see him around at that time. I always wondered what is the deal with him that every day he comes to the bus station with nothing to do? Anyway…as the typical English weather was making me even angrier than I already was, I saw him getting on the bus. That bus from 8:15.
‘Hello, Elisse! How are you this morning?’
‘Fine Mr. Johnson.’ I tried as much as I could to ignore his presence and most of all I tried not to breathe as much. That vinegar was making its way through the thin air of the bus. I wasn’t asking anything about him because in 3…2…1… Here we go again!
‘Let me tell you what happened to me yesterday! So we met on the bus, as usual at 8:15 and I went to get some breakfast because recently my wife decided to stop cooking. She said that she took this decision because of me. Apparently, I am nasty with her regarding, let’s say an untypical way of cooking.’
I don’t care! This is the phrase that was going on and on in my mind! Mr. Johnson was a 60-year-old man, retired from his job that he obviously told me about, but I forgot. I don’t remember how all of this has started, but every single day of his life he comes to the bus station, finds me and tells me about his previous day!
‘Look Mr. Johnson’ I started easily so that he didn’t feel like I was rude to him ‘Every single day, you come here and tell me about your life, but you haven’t asked even one time about me. Not even one time! You don’t know me and honestly, I feel tired of hearing about your dull life.’
His face changed suddenly after I told him everything I thought. For a split second, I felt sorry for everything I told him and I was ready to take my words back, but I was done with it. I couldn’t bare anymore. I was trying to deal with my own problems not have others on my back. Mr. Johnson looked out the window and then he stood up harshly. He got out of the bus, three or four stops earlier and left me there wondering if I did something wrong.
The next morning, I got on the bus. Went straight to my usual seat and waited. I waited until his stop and I kept looking out of the window to spot him. He wasn’t there. I felt sorry. Maybe I was the only one who listened to him. Maybe I was the only person that gave him a milligram of happiness. I knew where he was living so I decided to go to his house and talk to him. I couldn’t see him and I was definitely not feeling any smell of vinegar.
Months have passed and I didn’t see him. I was so eager to be against him and against everything he was talking about and once he disappeared I understood that I missed that last taste of vinegar. I decided to go to his place and talk to him openly about everything. Knock… knock… knock…
‘Mr. Johnson? Can I talk to you?’
The next thing I knew was me sitting on his couch, with a photo in my hands, smelling that intense smell of vinegar. He sat right in front of me, smiling even after all the things I have told him with great disrespect and started telling me the story of his life.
Hello everyone and welcome back to the first serious article on AlexJo Stories. I missed this place and I prepared for this moment for over a month now. I am super excited for everything that will happen here on the blog and also on the other social media accounts. Hopefully, we will all embark on an amazing journey. Tomorrow I am leaving for England. I am going back to uni. This was a story that I started in one of my seminars the last term and I wanted to see how this was going to evolve. I hope you guys liked it. Also if you have any suggestions please let me know.
GUYS GUYS GUYS Also, these amazing photos are by a Romanian photographer from Buzau. His name is Alex Ion and you can find him along his stunning photos on Instagram on the page: @nagy_alex.
I’ll #seeyousoon! Don’t forget on 14th of January we will have a new article here! See you on AlexJo Stories.