natter
to talk incessantly; chatter.
a conversation; chat.
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Ted did not quite understand what was going on. He knew the basics, of course. He was on a bus, and was sitting next to a young woman. That was about where his understanding ended though. The woman had started talking almost as soon as she had sat down.
She barely paused her seemingly endless chatter, and acted like they were old friends. Ted was barely listening, but it did not seem to matter. The woman was quite content to simply talk about whatever subject was on her mind.
After only an hour of travel, he knew that she was a vet, owned a large variety of pets (all of whom Ted could now name), her star sign, that she believed in star signs, and the circumstances of the lives of her siblings, parents, and her last boyfriend. And from how she was going, that was just the introduction.
Ted wanted to do something else. He had a bunch of books on his phone that he had prepared just for this trip. He had music, games, and a nice pillow. But then this woman had sat down, introduced herself as Shelly, and then started giving him her life story. His hand occasionally moved towards his pocket to get his phone, but it felt rude to actually use it.
It felt like some kind of breach of etiquette in he just started ignoring her. He was pretty much doing that already, but paying attention to something else would make it obvious. Of course, her launching into constant chatter without prompting also felt a bit rude. But which was the worse offense, her talk, or his ignoring said talk? Really, the only saving grace was that she was not speaking very loud. So at least she had the presence of mind not to bother the other passengers too much. Only him, and only because they happened to be sitting next to each other.
Shelly eventually pulled out her phone, and Ted had a spark of hope. Maybe she was getting bored of the one way conversation. Maybe she needed to rest her voice for a moment. Maybe she simply picked up on his lack of interest. His hopes were soon dashed. She was showing him pictures and videos she had taken. They were not of anything particular. Pictures of her pets. Of her friends and family. Just random things she thought were fun. There were some vacation pictures mixed in, but most of it was just daily life shots.
Ted put on his best fake smile. Now he really was trapped. He might have been able to gently pull out of the conversation before, but now? Now he had to actually look interested. Now he had to give her the bare minimum of attention. And that meant he could not disengage from the conversation. Now he would just have to tough it out and hope she lost interest.
He glanced at the clock on her phone. The trip had lasted just over an hour. And he knew that this bus ride would last at least three more hours. The groaned mentally and steeled his nerves. Three more hours. He just hoped his sanity would be able to last that long.
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I am so glad I've never encountered a situation like this before. Everyone I've sat next to while traveling has been quite content to mind their own business. Which is perfect for me.
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