Taking Charge of the Train

I've just submitted some short-short anecdotes about riding the Chicago Transit Authority to an online magazine. I thought you might want to read one of them.

Tuesday night on the way home from class, I had just boarded the “L” at Washington. The automated announcement said, “Doors closing.”

A tall, scruffy person, who evidently had been sleeping when the train pulled in, shouted, “Is this Washington? I need to get off at Washington. This is my stop.” With that he leaped to the doorway and blocked the door. To no one in particular he repeated that he needed to get off here. While I was wondering why he didn’t simply go ahead and get off, he gestured to his collection of bags on the seat he had just left.

“Somebody gotta hold this door so I can get my stuff.”

We all just sat there staring at him. I sure wasn’t going to hold the door for him. Let him ride to the next stop and come back. That’s what I would have done. Have done.

“I mean it. Somebody gotta hold this door or y’all just gonna sit there. Train ain’t gonna move while I’m standin’ in the door.”

Finally a woman from the back of the car went and stood in the doorway in his place. He went to his seat, picked up a bag of clothing and hefted a bag of canned food. Evidently the bag felt too heavy to him and he dumped some of the cans onto the seat. He selected two from the assortment, put them back in the bag. He announced that he was leaving the rest and to “help yourselves.”

He thanked the lady who had held the door and with a flourish got off. As we pulled out of the station, he was dancing – leaping and spinning on the platform, one bag in each hand.

I'll let you know how it goes with the magazine. In the meantime, don't forget to keep an eye on what else I'm doing at the Senior Center Murders Blog.