Doors Closing.

Three schoolgirls, skirted, shirted, each with a small rucksack across their white cottoned back, play a sing-song game of dance and words in the carriage. They spin & slap the upturned soles of their smart shoes together, spin & clap palms. A pleated chorus of words & laughter accompanies the frenetic routine and the motion of the train is subsumed into the dance. The dark glass reflects. Occasionally, the laughter or the words or the movement of the trio, will draw momentary glances from other commuters. The world beyond the window suddenly explodes with colour; a blur of crimson and cream, rapidly slowing, slowing to a standstill, becoming Mehringdamm U-bahn. The girls, step, step, step; step from the carriage to the platform, thread the crowd; their filigree voices stitching, briefly, the roughened, platform fabrics – the corduroys, canvas, gaberdines, and serge – and disappearing therein: ‘türen schließen’.