To Ms X

I wish you said hello to me because then, and only then, would I have been able to say hello to you...

You caught the L23 from Sydney Uni, wearing Lee jeans and a jacket I'd seen at a second-hand store. I remembered thinking that jacket was cool, but not as cool as the black one that had Vampires In Venice scrawled on the back with bloody writing.

I tried not to stare at you, because my mother told me that it was rude, and I wanted to be as polite as possible.

At the next stop you sat beside me and I turned away, only to catch your reflection in the window. It shits me when a window turns into a mirrot at night.

I opened my bag, pretending to busy myself to avoid contact. I reviewed a marked assignment. I opened a book I had no intention of reading. I wrote my phone number down on a corner page. I played with my iPod's click-wheel until I got annoyed.

By then it was my stop, so I asked to be excused. I liked how you got out of your seat to let me through - it showed effort and courtesy. People who just swivel to the side have found that I like to crash my elbow and bag into the back of their heads.

I looked back for another glimpse as I walked to the exit, but people we're pushing me towards the door in a hurry.

I tore the corner page with my number on it, and handed it to the garbage bin by the bus stop.

2042

8:30PM - May 8 - King Street

Hi
Hello
Can I have a drag?
Sure
You know... (pause / inhale / exhale) that's what I love about Newtown
The fact that you can ask strangers for a drag?
Yeah. It's like, you know. Yeah...

Her detailed explanation said it all, so I smiled and offered her the rest of the cigarette...

M says he's ready to leave, citing the need to save money for an overseas holiday as his prime motivator. A, too, is keen to jump out quickly and H is wanting room for a pug and a car. So that leaves me as the only person who really wants to stay here, but to start again with three new housemates is just too much for me.

Sometime in the near future I know that the year that has past will creep into my writings, dreams, drunken rambles and even rough screenplays (!) in my head - because that's what memories do, they resurface and take on another form.

I know for certain that they will all be fond, because there's no other suburb in Sydney that can saturate you with all the little, selfish pleasures in life as much as Newtown.

Goodbye.