People passed by inches from her hands. A woman talking on the phone glanced in her direction, then quickly turned away. A teenager adjusted his earbuds and stepped around her without breaking stride.

It wasn’t cruelty. It was something worse — indifference.

The driver’s hand hovered near the ramp control. He looked at his watch. He’d already lost two minutes. Passengers inside were starting to murmur, the low tide of impatience rising.

“Why aren’t we moving yet?”
“Come on, man, I’ll be late!”
“If she can’t get on, let’s go!”

Their words floated through the air — sharp, careless, cutting.

The woman heard them. She lowered her gaze, shoulders trembling slightly, and tried once more to lift the front wheels of her chair. The effort made her arms shake. The movement barely shifted her forward an inch.