Friday, March 09, 2007
In Transit
I had a somewhat unusual experience this morning on the train. I am not, of course, referring to the fact that there were no red line trains at all for about twenty minutes followed by three such trains in direct succession; I long ago learned that's more the norm than the exception. Nor am I referring to the fact that I was jammed up into a corner of the train by an enormously fat man carrying what appeared to be a trombone case; these things definitely happen. No, what made this train ride special was the presence of a crazy man who began screaming random things at other passengers as we approached downtown.
"Don't tell me how to feel," he yelled at one poor woman. "They took the dinosaur! Is that funny to you?"
Judging by the horror-stricken look on her face, it was in fact not funny to her.
"You'll probably just go to Decatur, Illinois, and buy a Cadillac you can't afford," he shouted at another gentleman, who really looked to me to be more of the Subaru type. "But where's my $1000?"
Not one of my fellow passengers appeared to have an idea of where the $1000 in question was.
"They were supposed to give me $1000 to get off crack cocaine, and they didn't do it," he continued, now raging at no one in particular. "And that's my testimony, okay? Tell it to Jesus."
It was at this point that the conductor announced that we were experiencing technical problems and would be briefly delayed. God bless public transit!
I had a somewhat unusual experience this morning on the train. I am not, of course, referring to the fact that there were no red line trains at all for about twenty minutes followed by three such trains in direct succession; I long ago learned that's more the norm than the exception. Nor am I referring to the fact that I was jammed up into a corner of the train by an enormously fat man carrying what appeared to be a trombone case; these things definitely happen. No, what made this train ride special was the presence of a crazy man who began screaming random things at other passengers as we approached downtown.
"Don't tell me how to feel," he yelled at one poor woman. "They took the dinosaur! Is that funny to you?"
Judging by the horror-stricken look on her face, it was in fact not funny to her.
"You'll probably just go to Decatur, Illinois, and buy a Cadillac you can't afford," he shouted at another gentleman, who really looked to me to be more of the Subaru type. "But where's my $1000?"
Not one of my fellow passengers appeared to have an idea of where the $1000 in question was.
"They were supposed to give me $1000 to get off crack cocaine, and they didn't do it," he continued, now raging at no one in particular. "And that's my testimony, okay? Tell it to Jesus."
It was at this point that the conductor announced that we were experiencing technical problems and would be briefly delayed. God bless public transit!
