Cave Gossip

As Wisent thought of Hélène’s crying, he felt something scrape his back. It was the man on the forklift. He had driven so close to Wisent that he tore his shirt and broke the skin on his back. Wisent turned to scream at the man but instead saw the forklift drive off the edge of the platform and fall approximately four feet onto the tracks of the Metro. The man with the orange jumpsuit fell from the vehicle onto the electric tracks. Suddenly the air was filled with a burning smell and the station reverberated with the man’s screams. Wisent watched as the man gyrated in a spasmodic dance of pain. He didn’t know what to do; he simply watched in horror as the worker fried on the electric tracks. Suddenly, a man wearing a stained and wrinkled white linen suit, came running down the platform and wrenched Wisent’s satchel from his arm. Wisent thought he was being robbed. Instead the man, who was obviously a clochard, one of the habitués of the Metro, jumped down onto the tracks near the screaming driver and, with a mighty swing of the satchel, knocked the man from the electrical tracks. Suddenly the platform was covered with people who had run to the sound of the screams. Wisent saw three policemen push their way through the crowd and jump onto the train bed and begin helping the driver. The man in the white suit climbed up the side of the platform. “C’est bizarre, n’est-ce pas?” “Oui,” Wisent said somewhat startled. “Voila,” he said handing Wisent his satchel. Wisent looked at the man who had a wolf-like face and several days’ growth of gray beard, blue-green eyes, and long salt and pepper hair, parted in the middle. His white linen suit was stained with splotches of food. Wisent smelled a feral smell, like the cage of a wild animal in the zoo. “Avez-vous un franc, monsieur?” “Pardon?” “Un franc pour la nourriture.” Wisent reached into his pocket and gave the man a handful of coins. “Merci, mon vieux.” The man then moved away from Wisent toward the other end of the platform, obviously not wanting to be congratulated or recognized for his heroics.