9th September

I was walking through the shops when a man with disabilities in front of me started yelling inaudibly and throwing his hands around his head. He could be heard through the whole building but no-one reacted or even looked his way. In moments like this everyone’s minds are glancing at each other but no one’s eyes are. I imagine everyone is thinking the same thing: “I know I don’t have a problem with this but I bet everyone else does” and this shared feeling keeps everyone quiet waiting for someone lesser than them to laugh or make a remark. I was in a rush and was soon out of sight of the man but I could still hear his wails from far away, and the sound was strangely comforting, the shouts and the volume were a break from the carefully checked behaviour of the shopping centre, a reminder of some loud animal thing inside of us that we were all busy suppressing.