The Talkative-man

The Talkative-man sat on the bench next to the Uninterested-man, in the cool hours of the early morning. The Uninterested-man was directly next to the Talkative-man separated only by a large suitcase that could only belong to someone who flapped their mouth as often as the Talkative-man.

The Talkative-man was in all ways round, as round as a ball. This did not mean he was fat. It just meant that he was a very particular shape, that could only be achieved by having a few too many cheese and Vegemite scrolls.

The Uninterested-man was old, not I have a Great Grandchild old, but nonetheless his hair was thinned an had retreated a very long way up his head. They sat in silence when I approached them, I sat across from them, pulled out my book and decided to take no interest in them.

The Talkative-man, true to what his name would suggest, leaned over to the Uninterested-man who was enjoying the early morning in his own little world. I cannot perfectly remember quite what they talked about but it was something along the lines about what the Talkative-man thought about every possible topic. He was a man that had the uncanny gift of being able to have a conversation with no-one but himself even though it looked like he was talking with someone else, rather he was talking AT them.

I watched this oddity occur for sometime and then decided to return to my book.

Several minutes later I was replying to a text and, with my nye frostbitten hands, fumbled my phone and helped it on a journey to the hard concrete.

The Talkative-man, who at this point had been abandoned in silence by the Uninterested-man who had become so uninterested that he had left, decided to take my phone smacking the concrete as a cue to start up a conversation with me.

Although as we now know it would not be a conversation and rather it would be a person speaking at and around me whilst I nod my head in agreement to the verbal diarrhoea that was too quick and too specialised for me to actually have any input.

That was my morning, with the Talkative-man and the Uninterested-man.