Waiting for the 3 near Dinkytown:
Cell Phone Guy: "Jim? Dave here. I'm on my way to Bloomington. Hey, I was just a Class A co-dependent enabler. Eddy just had dinner on my dime at McDonalds. But then I saw him in the liquor store. Said he'll be sleeping under the bridge."
[Silence]
Cell Phone Guy: "It won't happen again."
[Silence]
On the Hiawatha line tonight:
Cell phone woman: I'll text you later--
[silence]
Cell phone woman: [laughs] That's how I roll.
[silence]
Cell phone woman: From the mall. I might not buy anything. Text you later.
While I was walking home (beginning the seasonal transition from mass transit to personal transit), a fifty-something woman stepped out of the front door of a modest house, talking on her cell:
Woman: ...I was just feeling like I was at the peak of my career...
[silence]
Woman: Yes, I think so. And it makes me second guess a lot of them....
Woman on her cell, waiting for the 24:
"He's out now. Has to stay in the house for 21 days."
[Listens]
"I told him not to get down on himself about it. Gotta go. Bus is comin'."
[Young woman behind me near Northrop Mall begins to talk on her phone:]
"Hello? Dad?"
[short pause]
"Finally. I've been trying to get you for days. Where have you been?"
[longer pause]
"Well yes, you are now, but where were you?"
[short pause]
"I was really worried. Don't do that again."
[I turn off to enter a building as she moves out of range]