THE BLOB

Sometimes, the smallest events can change our lives. Consider the collision of atoms, or the changing letters on a page. The following is not such an event. It is of no importance and of no consequence.

It dropped. At first, I wasn't sure. When someone calls your name in a crowded street. I felt a ripple, a slight touch on my thigh. I looked down. The motion of the train slowed focus. The pattern of the tie, the shopping bag, the adverts, all dimmed.

There!

It was a blob. A sticky blob of something. A sticky white blob of something. A sticky white blob of something on my trousers. Someone else's sticky white blob of something, in full view, on my trousers. I looked up. Heat rose to the skin. The fans couldn't cool me. I need escape. Eyes in motion. Don't look at it. Don't look at it. Some girls and a man, looking my way, talking about television. I looked into the pattern of his suit.

Slimy bastard. He knew that blob had dropped and he didn't care where it was now. The train stopped and I looked at him. He was talking to some other slug, their mouths opening and closing. I didn't understand at first, then I knew-- they were foreign. Their faces the same, but their breath in different patterns. I couldn't see his eyes. What kind of-- The train shifted. His hand gripped the strap, nails trim. It came from there. I looked down. It's gone. It's not gone. A wave of nausea forced my head back against the glass. Whiteblobwhiteblobwhiteblob.

There was no escape. Nobody was looking but the whole carriage could see it. I stared into his suit, the detail individual threads blanking all thoughts of the blob's origin. White and sticky. Sticky and white.

Brush it off. Brush it off. No. It's sticky! It's sticky! Every internal voice shouted-- bastarddirtybastardblobwhitestickyblobbastard. Over and over. Over and over. Louder and louder.

The train stopped. I stood up, whipping the cloth as I forced my thighs out. Out!out!out!out!

I didn't dare look down until I reached the top of the stairs. It's a big city, people in motion. The blob was gone.