Tuesday, January 26, 1999
By Paul Ford
A moment of waiting for the emotions to settle.
Its a few minutes before 10 AM on Sunday. I am writing this on the NJT Trenton local, using the laptop purchased for me by
Rock, Paper, Scissors, Inc. The laptop has a wide, bright screen. It can spin CD-ROM's at 36 times their regular speed. In
the seat across, a woman is sobbing, choking and heaving. She is young and pretty, with red hair.
Her friend or boyfriend looks like me, tall and overweight, with brown hair. His weight hangs off him differently. I have
huge bones, ridiculous bones. In X-rays, my ankles look like oak branches. His shoulders are more narrow. He is trying to
comfort her, but not making much progress; he is not even rubbing her back in the way that people usually do with public weepers.
Now, she has stopped, and I can begin to write.
PEEK
Ftrain.com is the website of Paul Ford and his pseudonyms. It is showing its age. I'm rewriting the code but it's taking some
time.
FACEBOOK
There is a Facebook group.
TWITTER
You will regret following me on Twitter here.
EMAIL
About the author: I've been running this website from 1997. For a living I write stories and essays, program computers, edit
things, and help people launch online publications. (LinkedIn). I wrote a novel. I was an editor at Harper's Magazine for five years; then I was a Contributing Editor; now I am a free agent. I was also on NPR's All Things Considered for a while. I still write for The Morning News, and some other places.
If you have any questions for me, I am very accessible by email. You can email me at ford@ftrain.com and ask me things and I will try to answer. Especially if you want to clarify something or write something critical. I am
glad to clarify things so that you can disagree more effectively.
POKE
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Links: RSS1.0, RSS2.0
Contact
© 1974-2011 Paul Ford
Recent
@20, by Paul Ford.
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