She said, gently: ma’am, the other passenger needs her seat.
The woman sighed.
Audibly.
The sigh of someone for whom compliance is a great sacrifice.
She moved her bag.
She moved her jacket.
She stayed somewhat spread into the middle seat but at least the space was technically available.
I helped Rose into the seat.
This required some maneuvering.
The arthritis in her right hip meant that lowering herself required care.
It required a specific sequence of movements that she had learned and that I had learned alongside her.
She got into the seat.
There was less room than there should have been.
The woman’s elbow was in Rose’s space.
The woman’s presence was in Rose’s space in the particular way of someone who occupies more room than they have been allocated and who does so unconsciously and continuously.
The woman looked at Rose.
She looked at her the way people look when they are performing assessment.
