Clarence's story

A week ago, I published a short story in FictionPress.com entitled Clarence. I mentioned that I got the inspiration to write that story when I saw a guy on the train. The descriptions I gave of the male character, Clarence Lewis, are true although some details (such as the lips and the chin) are all made up. I added them just to make him a little more interesting. Also, the events that followed are spurts of the imagination. I really wish that they could have happened, dear.

Enough said about the fictional Clarence. Let's go now to the real one.

As you can see, this blog post is dedicated to the real guy I saw on the train station. I can swear to you that he really looks like a girl. (He is so androgynous that he could very well wear a dress and pass on as a girl in a party, except for the high heels part, maybe.) I was very much struck by his appearance. It struck me as queer, well, because he looked like some weird guy that was so out of place in a place filled with brown-skinned people. He just didn't blend in with the crowd (perhaps maybe when his back is turned). He looked so innocent while tying his shoe laces (oh, the glory!), I can assure you of that fact. Also, he was toting a back pack. It never struck me at that time that he could be going to school. I thought that he was off to work, visiting some friends, had an appointment with someone, or was one of those lazy bums who would rather stay at home.

I mentioned in the story that he had a pretty little hat on. It was perched on his mane of hair and seemed as if it was glued there for eternity. It gave him an artsy sort of atmosphere.

One of the beauties of alighting on the last station is that you get to see where certain people leave the train. On this case, I was pretty lucky to see that he left at the Pureza station. It was also a good thing that we were in the same car and that I could just turn my head and see his whole creature. I think it funny now that whenever I look at him, he would almost always suddenly look up and see me looking at him. Sheesh. It really destroys your diskarte when you're boy watching, but whatever. It's alright. It's alright. Well, at least, I'm trying to tell myself that it's alright...

So Clarence's story ends on that Friday afternoon, at around 2:30 - 3:00PM, when he descended the train... Think so? Well, I sure thought so! Because, no. It was not the end. As a matter of fact, I saw him again Wednesday afternoon, at around 1:00PM and, no, it's not on the train station but on the College of Arts and Letters building on U.P. Diliman. I was like, "What?!?" when I saw him walking away with his pretty little hat perched on his hair (yes, I saw him only once but I had memorized his back quite well, I think :P). I can tell you that my heart jumped and did flip-flops. It was so weird, I know. It just happened that we were getting copies of Cypraea leucodon by Jose Y. Dalisay, Jr. and The Last Voyage of the Ghost Ship by Gabriel Garcia Marquez for our CW10 class. Also, I had a companion with me. It was a good thing that he left the building right after I got my copies. I clambered down the stairs, didn't even bother waiting for my classmate, and nearly ran for the door. (If I didn't have my classmate behind me, I would have really run for the door.) To my utmost disappointment, when we got out of the CAL building, he was out of sight. He got mixed in with the crowd! Ged, I thought to myself, how do I go searching for Clarence now? I was happy, though, to at least get a glimpse of him. And the knowledge that he was studying in the same university as I am excited me very much, all the more reason to pass my subjects.

I walked all through the day as if in a trance. I could have destroyed my blue sandals with all the trips I got myself into. My mind was filled with thoughts of Clarence. I pondered, then, as to which course he took. The first thing that came to my mind was that he was (most probably) inclined with the arts. As I mentioned before, he had an artsy aura about him. I could imagine him behind the camera as a director... Or as a painter... Or as a pianist... Or as a guitarist... Or maybe even an architect... But never an engineer, scientist, historian, lawyer, teacher, or something else. He was an art-inclined fellow to me, at least that's my mindset. Hey, I can't ask him straight what his course is, you know? He'll think I'm stalking him! Well, maybe I am, in a sense, but whatever... To me, Clarence is an artist and ever will be. If my hunches prove to be correct, then ha! A genius, I am! No, maybe not. I'm probably reading too much of Sherlock Holmes, anyway...

Speaking of Holmes, I should have liked to apply his methods but that was utterly impossible. I do not trust myself in "dogging" or "stalking" campaigns. I would probably reveal myself in the first minute. You see, I'm not that careful. But, then again, I might be able to pull it off what with my almost invisible aura feel. But, no. That was not the method I choose to use. I just want to wait. I don't want to set up an investigation and find out in the end that he has a (!!!) girlfriend. Nuh-uh. That would hurt so. It would be better to just look on from far away and treat him as a source of inspiration, a source of strength when I'm too lazy to study or listen to a teacher's discussion. But, if the chance comes like in the story, I would ever so gladly grab it. How I wish that fiction was indeed true...

Ah, I get sick just writing this. Clarence in my mind...