Sometimes my mind plays a mildly-morbid little game when I am on public transport and I don’t feel like reading. In between stares out the windows and doors, I find myself looking around the bus or the train car at the people. In a few minutes, I involuntarily get little flashes of what the other passengers will look like when they are elderly. A lot of the people who take public transport in Chicago are very young, so it is sometimes hard to tell what they might look like at 70 or 80.With some people, you can see it very clearly in facial expressions and creases around the eyes and mouth. They’re already a bit older so it doesn’t take much more than a quick glance. Sometimes, it’s harder to gauge what someone would look like in 2058. If I see someone harder to peg, I don’t stare. I just take more than one quick glance.
If you see me take a look at you on the el, assume that I am imagining what you will look like when you’re 77. That is, if you make it that far. Don’t take it personally. I’m just a weirdo with a short attention span.
