Mad World

Surely, New Yorkers are faced with the mess of the subway train one way or another, especially today when it was pouring in the early morning. I knew the commuting would be a disaster. However, after you read my story, you might find yourself amusingly smiling.

Normally, I go to work by taking the 7 train and then transfer to the F train at Roosevelt Avenue station. But today there was no F train running from Queens to Manhattan. Therefore, my plan was to take the 7 train to the opposite direction and transfer to the N train. I couldn’t get into the first 7 train when it arrived at the platform because it was so crazily packed. I waited until the next train came. I finally managed to get into the train. However, my skirt was stuck between the doors. This Chinese lady was kind enough to continually pull my skirt out of the doors. My back was leaning against the doors. I was standing next to an old guy. In front of me was a guy wearing a hospital gown, so I guess he might be a doctor or work in the hospital. Anyway, it was mucky and muddy. I was sweating and so were people in the train. You get the picture how nasty it was, right?

The local train was running slowly. It was jam-packed. No one got in or out. Millions of people were waiting at the small platform looking at passengers in the train. I bet they would like to scream at us because we were so lucky finding the spot in this overcrowded train. The train stopped, there was one guy getting out of the train. Unfortunately, I was blocking his way. So I stepped out of the train to let him out. I was going to get back inside the train. But the doors were instantly closed in front of me. “Damn,” I said. People at the platform were sympathetically smiling, some were laughing. I could sense that they felt sorry for me. On the other hand, they felt good to have one more person joining their could-not-get-into-the-train club. It certainly was that stupid guy’s fault. It was not my day at all.

Oh well. I couldn’t believe what I saw when I was looking at the passengers. They were shocked and upset, especially that Chinese lady. She was like, “Oh no! You better let her back in. She is one of us. She belongs to be with us in the train, not standing outside.” That old guy was like the same, looking at me like, “Hey, you don’t deserve this. You shouldn’t be left outside like that.” Other passengers who saw this incident had this-world-is-unfair look!

I took a deep breath, optimistically thinking that there was always the next train right behind this one. Suddenly, God has ears, the train doors were partially open. Unluckily, I couldn’t get in. But you’ve got to see all these passengers’ face. They were like, “Come on, girl. You have to get back in.” They were being supportive. The doors were opened again. And this time I was able to get in by the help of the passenger. They were literally grabbed my arm, dragged me in and made sure that I was inside the train completely. It was not that easy. My bag was stuck in between the doors. The conductor was announcing, “Get your (fucking) bag inside the train right now! Otherwise the train has to stop running.” I was like, “So, open your (fucking) doors!” The doors were opened once again. With the help of the old guy standing next to me, I got my bag in. The passengers were giving me the winning smiles and perhaps if they had spoken to me, the conversation would have been like, “Alright girl. You made it. Welcome back!” I also could hear the sound of an applaud as the background. I felt like I was a movie star when she fought and did win a difficult task.

Come on, people. Isn’t it a lovely story happened in a chaotic moment? I could see you smile.