Because you can't direct your hearing, no one faults you if you happen to overhear a conversation. Personal and professional, embarrassing and mundane, we all sponge up snippets of other's trials and tribulations as we wander about, be it standing next to people on a line, sitting adjacent to them on the train or walking behind them down the street. It's an occurrence made more common by the advent of cell phones and earbuds. People think they are immersed in a call that only they can hear, and so they talk louder and with less reserve. Whether you want to or not, you become privy to pleading with children, cheating boyfriends and gross medical issues.
Do so with your eyes, however, and aspirations are cast. Because you can look away it is assumed that you will. If you don't avert your gaze are you peeping? Nosy? Spying? What if the person insists on using a 40 point font in their text app, and is shoulder to shoulder with you on an airplane? In my case it was a flight to Florida, midday and midweek, no holiday in sight, just normal people doing normal things: business meetings to attend, family to see, an escape from the cold for a few days. In that situation are you a snoop if you can't help it, and would have to shut your eyes not to see?
Let's say you (by that I mean me) does snatch a glance: what are you jumping into? Let's face it: most of us lead pretty ordinary, or perish the thought, even boring existences. Sure, there might be the odd bit of drama with a sibling or coworker, something relatively trivial: a forgotten birthday, a stapler not returned, an anecdote appropriated as one's own. But the stuff of prime time, such as deceit, double dealing, back stabbing? That level of dysfunction or intrigue is far more likely on Netflix or HBO. Or is it?
"As you know Harry is a vindictive person who can't be trusted." That was the line that jumped off the phone in my eyeline. Just a moment before the woman in the middle seat next to me was nibbling bits of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich she took out of her bag and was playing solitaire. That wasn't surprising, as flying used to be one of the few respites where we all got away from the near constant vibrating and pinging that dictates our everyday existence. But because this was JetBlue, everyone had free Wi-Fi, and was jacked in. And so even at 35,000 feet, there was no escaping texts or emails. Moments before I had seen a note pop up on her screen about her father being in the hospital and her flying down to check on him. Boring.
But this? The great director Alfred Hitchcock used to talk of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. And with no context or back story this could go either way. Since I wasn't staring at her phone, I only caught bits, and so I wondered: just how vindictive was Harry? Turns out very: "he has a grudge against my brothers and me." The next time I glanced over: "He has an inability to run the company." Which was this: ordinary or extraordinary?
The next sighting was most assuredly the first: "Have to reschedule the dog's grooming session." I read my book a bit, then shifted and looked again. More everyday: "Thanks for being with dad." But then the other storyline: "He might do anything, he's done it before." What? Steal? Lie? Violence? I had no idea what Harry was capable of. Then just as quickly: "The flowers were lovely." How sweet. Or was that code for something far more dastardly?
So Jill or Anna or Jennifer or whomever you are that sat next to me: apologies for over looking. I hope your dad is OK and that you find a convenient time to reschedule Queenies blowout. As for the texts, maybe I'm just reading too many books or watching too many shows where the unusual trumps the mundane. Looking at it one way, if you're locked in a high-stakes takeover battle, I hope that Harry is unarmed. But if he's just an annoying cousin, then good luck with the appliance repair business or whatever. In the meantime, the black nine goes on the red ten in third column.
-END-
Marc Wollin of Bedford keeps his ears and eyes open. His column appears weekly via email and online on Substack and Blogspot as well as Facebook, LinkedIn and X.
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