Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Obscure Stop

The nagging habit of the fellow next to me on the train of anxiously peering out the window from time to time was getting on my nerves. I began to sigh, loudly, as he kept this up.
Finally, he turned to me, “Pardon me, Madam, Is something bothering you?”
I sighed again, exasperated, “Is there a stop you think you’ll miss if you don’t keep looking out the window?”
“No, just my grandparents who live in Summerville.”
“Well, they should be calling that out when they get there and let you off.”
“Sorry, but it’s an obscure stop, and I can’t take any chances.”
I sighed again, “Is there a death in the family? Is that what makes you so intense?”
“Death?” he responded incredulously.
“Yeah, people die, even those close to us in our families.”
“My grandparents are very much alive!”
“Sorry if I offended you.”
“Finally, I heard the announcement: “Summerville up ahead.”
The man asked to be excused to get by me and collected his belongings from the overhead shelf.
I could see that it must be an obscure stop, as he was the only one stopping off. I moved over and looked out the window. I saw two people board the train after my companion got off.
Two older people, who looked somehow youthful in fact, greeted him with open arms. Strangely, they turned around, all three of them; to stare at my window as my traveling companion pointed it out to them. They stood with a set of frozen smiles, waving at me in slow motion. Nobody on the platform paid them much attention. They just walked by them.
“Well,” I said to the conductor as the train jerked back into motion, and he came by to punch my ticket, ‘”I’m glad that guy was reunited with his loved ones, so I can have some peace.”
He looked at me, puzzled.
“What guy?”
“The guy that got off at this stop.”
“Listen, Lady, I’m just getting around to punching up the tickets in this car. We only stopped for one couple from Summerville. Very few people go there, and certainly none this trip. It’s nearly a ghost town.”

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