March 16, 2004

Mindblowing

I will have plenty to say about my first SXSW experience, but for now I'll just share a conversation I just overheard here at the airport.

An older, barrel-chested man struck up a conversation with the bleach-blonde, heavily mascara'd woman in her 50s sitting next to me. He asked her where she was going (DC); he was going there, too. He asked whether she was going for business or pleasure; she responded that she was going to visit her sister in the hospital.

"They're saying she may not make it much longer," she said. He inquired as to what she had (I couldn't quite hear him), and she replied, "She um, well, her husband basically beat her to death."

This piqued my interest.

They then had a long, anecdote-sharing conversation about this woman's sister and her battering husband and other domestic violence cases they were familiar with, all in the same nonchalant way you might talk about the great meal you had last night. This woman's sister's heart has stopped beating twice and she's chit-chatting with a stranger about it as if it was the most natural thing in the world!

Their conversation turned to more mundane things, like being able to see his house when flying out of Aspen, but holy shit! How can spousal murder be a casual topic of conversation? Is it so commonplace in these people's lives that it's interchangeable with "how's the weather?"

I couldn't take it; I got up and checked on my gate info. Gate 23 is much more tame.

Posted by Andrew Huff at March 16, 2004 04:40 PM
Comments

I guess if you're going to discuss something like that with a total stranger, you'd almost have to keep it to a polite little exchange. Had she totally opened up and started bawling, that would have been awkward, yet she probably was compelled to talk about it.

I'd have been freaking out if I was the guy. I never know what to say in situations like that.

If you want weird, image the camera crew from Airline there interviewing her about it. Voiceover: Meanwhile, back at Chicago Midway, Suzie is getting upset because her sister might bleed out before she gets to Washington if she can't make it on this flight.

Posted by: Ryan at March 16, 2004 05:26 PM

Yeah, that'd be a step too far. (It was in Austin, though -- no camera presence, thank god.)

Posted by: Andrew at March 16, 2004 10:09 PM

Yikes! I saw you walk past while I was waiting at my gate, now I'm glad I didn't follow you. Brr... too creepy.

Hope the sister pulls through. And that her husband gets a lot of special attention in prison.

Posted by: Dinah at March 17, 2004 12:30 AM

It's hard to say why the woman was so dispassionate about her sister to a total stranger. Maybe Ryan's right - it was discretion. Maybe it was her coping mechanism - detachment. And maybe she just is a callous bitch.

But it's nice to see that you felt something.

I can't imagine being the abuser or the abused in any circumstance, let alone this one. I just can't comprehend that kind of violence - but I really can't comprehend what would drive a person to that extreme. "Yeah, I almost beat my wife to death, but she deserved it." It makes me sick.

Posted by: bran at March 17, 2004 03:20 PM