The Day after the Earthquake

Overheard in a train

Usually, people who roar into cellphones on public transport or in restaurants are simply rude and annoying.  But every now and then you can guess what the unheard person on the other end of the line is saying, and the result can be intriguing.

On Friday, New Zealand had another series of earthquakes, which shook up Blenheim and Wellington rather a lot.  Yesterday, Saturday, a woman across the aisle in a train had a cellphone conversation about it.  And this is how it went:

"Was I hurt? Yes!"

.....

"I hurt my shoulder!"

.....

"I hurt it fighting a man to get under a desk."

....

"Well, he was a big, burly fellow, and very determined."

The woman, as it happens, didn't seem to be hurt or in any pain, but obviously, whatever gallantry her co-worker owned had been shaken out of him.