A Few Imaginary Scenes

1.
She was sitting on her bed. Pondering. The door cracked. She looked toward the source of the sound, it was her daughter who had returned home for the spring break.

She saw that her mother was buried deeply in thoughts. She let out a soft call: mom. Receiving no response, she left the room, shutting the door behind her. She wanted to ask her if there were any star anis left for the stew she planned to make.

Something light then, she thought.

She rolled up her sleeves until they were sitting above her elbows, then immersed her pale hands into the green enamel pot where the soaked vegetables slept.

2.
There's nothing to miss. Really.
She looked out of the bus window. The glass was tainted by fog and traces of salt. The landscape seemed washed out, a total blur.

It is true that there's nothing to miss. Because there had never been anything to start with.

She extended her index finger and drew a line along the buildings rolling by. There was a small bead of water at the end of that line, but it never grew big enough to form a full drop. A still-born.

She rang the bell, got up and got off.

3.
The corner of a black package emerged from the backpack tossed on the ground.

A tablet of black chocolate, 70%.
What kind of man would reveal his inclination for chocolates? Bitter chocolate?

I watched him as he brought a piece to his mouth.

4.
One voice message from a stranger in an unknown language, a murmur, a whisper.

Two voice messages from a stranger in an unknown language, a murmur, a whisper.

5.
She gazed at his face and remembered.
She knew his deepest hopes and desires, his phobies and his follies.
He didn't know her yet.

The book he was reading: A Brief History of Time.

6.
The commuters sat in a row.
Their heads tilted. Their hands crossed.
The rising sun burned their eyelashes.
Different shades of gold.

7.
She is young, but she already had lines etched into her face.
Whe she talks,
they dance,
like ripples on a lake.

8.
I have this song:
the shape of your finger nails is connected to your personality.
It goes something like this:
Round, square, short, very short and sharp.