Earwigging
[This happened nearly a year ago, but I forgot about it. I recently found what I’d written and it makes me chuckle so up it goes!]
I was sitting on the train on the way to visit my sister when some teenage girls got on. I was listening to my portable CD player (I am so freakin’ phat and oldskool), and I turned the volume right down so I could listen to their conversation. It was more interesting than the music I was listening to, but also completely unnoteworthy.
Except for this: at the end one of the girls was getting off the train and she said something about me (I had tuned out by this point so I didn’t catch what). Then she said “Ooh, I hope you can’t hear me! Actually, I know your game - you’ve got that CD player on pause, haven’t you?”
WA A AOW BUSTED!
She was only joking, but my eyes totally panicked and went all wide and darty. Though I did my best to hold it together she kind of went “oh! …oh.” and got off the train, leaving two of her friends opposite me. I wish I could have been cool about it and said “yeah, you’re right. Sorry. I’ve been on a train for ages, and your conversation was more entertaining than listening to more music.”
Instead, in an effort to try and recover the situation and restore my character, I spent the next ten minutes or so bobbing my head to imaginary music, and intermittently opening my eyes really wide like it was just something I did when I listened to music. I have since reenacted this in the mirror, and I’m surprised they didn’t call for their Dads to pick them up.