I was pretending to be reading instead of sleeping when the security guards approached the benches. They had already given my fellow bench sleepers warnings. Luckily, I had decided to sit up to drink some water when the guards approached the first time. Earlier, when I arrived at the benches, no one else was laying down. I was the first. I've always had a rebellious streak.
I made the decision that it was more important for me to lie down and close my eyes than it was to be concerned about the other people strangers that I would never see again in my life seeing me sleep; curled uncomfortably on the wooden pews, using my backpack as a pillow. Five minutes after I lay down, an older man moved over to a bench near me, and followed suit. Then an older couple, a man with no front teeth, and a dark haired woman wearing bright red bloomers and navy blue pantyhose arrived. They lay down too, with their heads leaning together, both resting on their luggage. When the security guard came to give his second warning, I saw him coming and pretended to be reading in a strange half laying, half sitting crouch.
Yes, this is the way I normally read.
But this time he came to tell us that we all had to leave the station between two and five am while the building was being cleaned. I'm not sure why he chose helped me. It could have been my new blond dye job and cut, or maybe it was my adorably cute smile. Or maybe it was that he had actually heard me when I told him that I'd already been to the cafe across the street, and that a creepy man had harassed me there.
Whatever his reasons were, he stopped me as I slowly dragged my backpack towards the door and told me I could stay. Just like that. He didn't give me a reason, but I don't care. I'm just so grateful for the gift of protection and shelter that night.
Oh, and Greece has oregano flavored Ruffles. I discovered this between two and five am between naps and listening to the guards play poker.
