[RF] Cold shoulder
“Hey, I need to pee…” Matt said across the dark parking lot.
“Ok, meet me in the station; I’m going to go find out which bus is ours… it's fuckin’ freezing out.” Kate replied.
Inside the station, the room was full of people in winter coats, all looking down at their screens. Some had headphones, others were asleep on friends' shoulders, the humming of the buses outside filling the space. Matt was in and out in a hurry, finding Kate waiting for him at the entrance.
“I’m gonna go too, wait for me here. I couldn't find the bus” she said, handing him her bag.
Matt was still under the veil of sleep, blindly wandering, unable to focus, his unruly brown hair covered under his hat.
Standing there in the night humming like the engines of the buses, a man approached him in a dark black sweatshirt and a beanie.
“Excuse me sir, I need a few more Euros to get on this bus. Would you mind helping me? Please, it’s Christmas Eve and I need to get back to my family” he said.
“I’m sorry, I don't have any change,” he said sadly,
“Well, do you have anything that would help?”
“I’m sorry man, I only have credit cards.” he said, raising his shoulders.
“Well, there’s an ATM. Please sir? I really need to catch this bus”. Matt paused.
“Please sir” he said, showing the creases in his dry face.
“Oh fine,” he said, walking to the small box in the corner.
Matt inserted his card and typed in his code, ensuring he blocked the man's view.
“It won't work, I’m sorry”
“Try again,” he insisted. Matt put the card in again.
“Transaction invalid” he read aloud to the man,
“It won’t work”
Fearful the man who was clearly smaller than him would figure out he had purposefully typed the code wrong. The man followed him as he walked back to the sliding glass doors.
“Please try again sir”
“I told you, it wont work” he said in a hushed shout.
“Matt… What's happening?! Where have you been?” Kate said as she approached, sounding panicked.
“I tried to help this guy out for a bus ticket and the ATM wouldn't work.”
“The ATM?” she said with wide eyes.
“Yeah… I don't have cash” he said, meeting her gaze.
“Well come on, I found our bus and we're going to miss it!” Kate said, turning towards the road. The man took hold of Matt’s arm.
“Please” he begged
“Get off!”
Matt freed himself and tossed him a 2 euro coin.
“Do you have any more?”
“No!” Kate barked “That’s it, get on the bus Matt”
They climbed up the narrow aisle and took their seats.
“You know he wasn’t going anywhere,”
“What?”
“Look, he’s gone.”
Peering out the window; the road was empty; they were the last ones on the bus.
“I pretended to try and take out money from the ATM for him; I wasn’t actually going to”
“Yea…”
“I feel gross” Matt said looking out
Kate shrugged.
Pulling out of the station, Matt let out a full body shake, was he a bad person he thought?