Reflections

So I’m looking out through the rear window of a CTA train, looking into the next carriage and the reflections of people and seats in my own carriage are superimposed over the people I’m seeing, so passengers are next to each other in the joined reflections, some walk down the aisle towards me and it takes a while to figure out whether they’re in my carriage or the other one. It’s an interesting illusion.

It’s also disconcerting. People sit right next to other people, seemingly, but not really. Some seem to turn and face one another and I watch as they appear to stare point blank into each others eyes. Faces chat animatedly at each other, inches from nose to nose, appearing to agree and disagree, smiling and frowning.

Sometimes between the reflections and reality, as my mind struggles to differentiate, individuals ‘ghost over’ one another, momentarily becoming the same person, united.

One man appears distraught, holding his head in his hands. A lady glances up from her magazine, seeming to watch him, perhaps with sympathy. He doesn’t know of course, because it’s not really there. Only I see this.