---
title: Stagnant
genre: prose

id: stagnant
toc: "Stagnant"

project:
    title: "Buildings out of air: Paul in the Woods"
    class: paul
    order: 27
    next:
    - title: Building
      link: building
    - title: Stump
      link: stump
    prev:
    - title: Options
      link: options
    - title: Snow
      link: snow
...

"Riding the bus to work is a good way to think or to read" Paul thought to himself on the bus ride to work.
His thoughts couldn't become real to him because he didn't want to look insane to everyone else on the bus.
His thoughts came to him like someone [yelling over a hard wind][].
He was trying to write them on his memory but the act of writing was easier and more immediate than that of listening.
He was afraid that when he looked at his memory later he wouldn't be able to read what was written.

"Thoughts are like the wind outside a moving bus" he thought "or rather the bus is a brain slamming into columns of stagnant air causing them to whistle past in a confusion of something."
He could barely hear the voice [yelling to him over the wind][].
"Speak up" he thought to the voice, then remembered it was his own.
He wished he'd remembered a book to read.

He looked at his hands to pass the time.
[They were dry in the winter air][] that had seeped its way into the bus.
He tried to figure out how many hours they would make it before cracking and bleeding.
"Maybe three or four" he thought accidentally out loud.
He looked around expecting stares from everyone on the seat.
[He was surprised that he was the only one on the bus.][]

[He was surprised that he was the only one on the bus.]: stayed-on-the-bus.html
[yelling over a hard wind]: sense-of-it.html
[They were dry in the winter air]: hands.html
[yelling to him over the wind]: cold-wind.html