People Watching on the Ferry
Though I was on line for the early ferry, the heat of the day was already rising. It was going to be a hot one.
I was the only motorcyclist on board the boat. And as such, people were apt to look at me. I was after all dressed in full motorcycle gear on a hot summer day. It didn’t help that my clothing was road dirty and covered in bugs. I felt self conscious and ugly.
After purchasing my ticket, I quickly scuttled outside to the upper deck of the boat where I could sit outside and enjoy the wind in my hair.
The microcosm that is the ferry was fascinating to observe. Like many other places where people congregate, it is a sea of personalities. There were the business people, glued to their phones; doing very important things on their notebook computers before the boat even left the port. There were the children – full of curiosity and wonder watching the harbor boats bobbing up and down on the water. There were groups of chatty women who seemingly never took a breath between sentences.
And then… then there were the watchers; the silent ones staring out at the horizon. I liked them best. They were the people on the lookout for some unknown possibility in the place where the water touched the sky.
As I sat, a paper napkin came rolling towards me. It unfolded and danced on the wind. Darting back and forth, going every which way, it floated seemingly without direction or a goal. It was completely at the mercy of the wind.
I don’t think it knew where it was going either.