Addendum to train announcement #8

Passengers, for your safety and security, please report any untoward behaviour to transit officers. Recent tragic incidents could have been prevented by your diligence.

The woman’s unsteady walk was obvious even on the grainy CCTV footage shown at the Inquiry. It was also telling that none of you turned to look at her. None of you saw how she was not ashamed of her nakedness, or how her hunched back stretched and twisted. Why didn’t you look up from your trashy magazine to see the vacant unawareness in her uncertain stance? Why didn’t you tear your eyes away from the selection of soft drink machines to see her white trembling hands? She could have been playing with a detonation device, for god’s sake, punching and pulling out plastic strips to stick on her hand, but you, you read, you turned, or you napped. None of you looked up to see the determined intake of breath, a strange serenity settling on her face, and then, the one flickering look of triumph as she stepped onto the tracks.

Management expresses its disappointment in your humanity.

This has been a community disciplinary announcement.

So she said: Loving hate

Jaundiced. Maimed. Token fury from token mate. You labelled me, asphyxiated. Kneaded. Wedged and tainted. Hated, hesitated. Thrown and spun. Thrown and spun on a pin fixated.