As the busy man rushed on the bus, he shoved his ticket in the fare machine. Even before the bus driver could give his nod of approval, the man had squeezed between some passengers & made his way to the rear exit.

The bus pulled up to the station, & the man began to stomp on the floor in order to activate the automatic exit; @ least, that is what 1 would suppose. Judging by the body language, 1 might suspect that he was a child in a man's body throwing a tantrum to get his way.

When the door finally opened he ran inside the station in full stride. He ran up the escalator, skipping a stair each with each step he took. Not surprisingly he was the 1^st of the group, that reached the top. Before he got there though, he manage to:

• push another man with his briefcase in order to get him out of the way

• berate a foreigner for standing on the wrong side of the escalator

• brush by the arm of a child & knock over the child's ice cream

Shouts of anger could be heard all the way up the escalator. In 1 accord, passengers protested against his rudeness, complained about their misfortune, & even threatened to report him for safety violations.

When the man made it on to the platform, he manage to scare an elderly lady by cutting in front of her, & squeezing between the doors. The busy man never looked back, so he couldn't see the look of shock on the lady as she realized that she had not only been cut in front of, but also that she would now have to wait for another train. Her mouth could not have hung open any wider.

When the busy man reached his station, he left the train faster than a speeding bullet. He went down the escalator, jumped the last few steps, ran out the exit, zipped past down the side walk & entered the office.

Striding up to the receptionist, he demanded, “I want Mr. Smith, now.”.

She brushed him away like an annoying mosquito, saying, “Get to the back of the line.”.

“But--”

“Get to the back of the line.” To the back of the line he would go; the line that he never saw on the way in; the line that he was too busy to see because of his self-centred ways; the line that wasn't important to him, because only his priorities registered in his mind; the line that didn't even flinch or look when he bursted into the room, because they were so used to his attitude day in & day out. The busy man had nothing to do, now that he had to wait. He had to wait just like everybody else.

Minutes crawled by. Hours stood still.

“Hey, are we going to get some service here or not?!? I can't even tell if the line moved. Do you really call this a charity? Well, I don't think so!”.

The only response that he got from the lady was flip of a paper board sigin that read, “Closed”. Unfortunately it was 5 'O clock, & his watch only verified that. He would have to show up tomorrow, & try his luck then.

“But wait! I need that money today. I have to pay rent!”, he pleaded. His begging fell on deaf ears.

2 days later, he sat on the side walks. The man who was once too busy for anybody else, now sat homeless, watching everybody pass him by. These people were much too busy for him now. They didn't have time to hear his sad stories, nor did they have time to deal with his complaints.

The elderly lady happened to pass by, made her way past him without any hinderance, for he had no right to speak up; not that he ever did.

Lunch time rolled around. The crowds filled the sidewalks. The little girl came by with her mother; this time with a drink in her hand. It quenched her thirst. But he could only dream of what it would be like to not experience thirst for 1 full day.

Minutes later, the man with the briefcase that got pushed the other day, walked by with a look that inquired, “Aren't you pathetic?”. Apparently the man with the briefcase recognized him. So it seems that not everybody was ignoring him.

Hours later, the foreigner walked by. He couldn't even help the man if he wanted to. The man pleaded for help, but his cries fell on deaf ears, because the foreigner couldn't understand English.

@ the end of the day, he who was too busy for common courtesies, only had 47 cents in his filthy hat that had never been washed in months.

* * *

Commentary:

In this exercise, I was trying to create a bit of suspense with a nice twist. I love suspense movies & stories. I wanted to give readers the impression that he was a business man on the way to an important meeting, when in reality, he was just another person being inconsiderate.

In the story, the man was way past due on his rent, & got evicted. He ends up living on the streets getting nothing from the people he encoutered & whom he showed no respect for.