I take Light Rail to work each morning. Usually, I sit by a fellow liberal, my train buddy, and we talk politics or Colbert or Rachel all the way in. He wasn't there today, and there was a lot to capture my interest besides my iPod and book (The Associate - John Grisham).
I sat right across from a beautiful, young, African American woman, who was staring out the window. She was nicely dressed in slacks, a sweater, and cute little black flats. She also had a bicycle. I've never seen her on the train before. After a minute or two, I realized she was quietly crying. I asked her if she was OK. She just nodded. The crying got worse - not especially loud, but something was going on with her. She didn't seem to want to talk, so I handed her a Kleenex from my purse. She wiped her tears, and kept on crying until she got off. I'll always wonder about her. I hope she's OK.
Across the aisle from her was a young guy, also with a bike. Another newcomer to the train. He was a white guy, about 20, with some attitude. That became apparent as the Regional Transit police got on to check for tickets and passes. This guy didn't have one. He said that the machine where he got on was broken, and how was that his fault? He argued with the RT man, who was writing him up. The fine is $87. The kid kept arguing and the RT man called on his walkie-talkie to find out if the machine was truly broken. I'm not sure what the answer was, but it turned out that my fellow rider had an appointment at the courthouse for a DUI. He got the ticket, complained bitterly for two more stops, kicked the pedals on his bike, and the RT guys (another one showed up for reinforcement) finally kicked him off the train. I think he was crying because he was going to be late for his court date.
At some point, a guy sat down across from me, taking the place of the crying woman. He was wearing sweats, and had the hood up, covering his long, dishwater blond hair. He was probably in his late 20s. Just when I thought I could concentrate on my book, he started periodically sucking on his teeth (at least, I think that's what the noise was). So annoying! 30 seconds....squeek! 20 seconds...squeek! Wait for it...45 seconds...Squeek! (Ignore him, ignore him, ignore him...).
I thought I smelled pretty good this morning. I showered, put on lotion and Halston. I'm wearing clean scrubs. Then a woman gets on and sits right next to me with hot food in a plastic to-go carrier. I don't know if it was Chinese food, or what, but it was really fragrant, and had overtones of grease. Am I going to smell like that for the rest of the day? I hope not. Even with the slight cold I have right now, I can still smell it.
A more eventful morning on the train than usual, fo sho.
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