Saturday, May 5, 2007

Officious

Pushy about offering one's services; meddlesome (adj.)

Milton stood on the corner waiting for the bus. He held a large package of diapers in his hand and a briefcase in the other. Out of the corner of his eye he saw someone walking toward him, and he folded his lower lip in and bit on it, rocking nervously back and forth on his heels.
A woman wearing large stiletto heels click-clacked up to him. Her hair was wig-pink and hoop earrings dangled from her earlobes, which looked pierced in several places. A black mini-skirt rose above the middle of her thighs and monstrous cleavage ebbed from the low cut of her blouse.
"Hello," she said to him.
Milton turned toward her, folded his lip again, and pushed up his glasses.
"Hi there," he said, not knowing where to look.
"Fine night tonight, huh?" the woman asked.
"Uhm, yes, sure is..."
Somehow there was no one else waiting for the bus, and Milton looked in vain for something other than the woman's breasts. He decided to look at the ground.
"Need some company?" she asked.
Milton took a quick breath in.
"No. No I don't," he said, looking at the sidewalk.
She shifted her weight to one side.
"You scareda me?"
"W-what?" he asked.
She leaned forward closer to him so her heels scraped against the concrete, she made a sucking nose with her teeth and tongue.
"Baby, ain't no reason for you to be scareda me. I'm just trying to help you out."
She touched her shoulder to his, he shuffled his feet and moved away, smelling cigarettes and Vaseline wafting from her.
"P-please go away," he pleaded, "I'm just t-trying to wait for the bus."
"Baby you look like you could use some. Those diapers for your kids?"
"Yeah, they are."
"You buyin them for your wife?"
"She couldn't stop by the store today," he said, surprised that he was even answering her.
"You happy with your wife?"
"Ec-excuse me? What do you mean?"
"I just mean maybe you need something she can't give you."
The bus pulled up from the left and Milton swallowed, feeling sweat underneath his sweater and on the part of the plastic diaper bag where his fingers had clenched. As the bus doors opened he felt a surge of confidence.
"I'm very happy with my family, th-thank you very much. And I suggest you find yours, wherever they are. Goodbye."
And he got on the bus, paid the dollar twenty-five to the machine and sat down, hugging the diapers to his chest and watching the woman fade into a dot as she walked to the next corner.

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