- i left the house around 2am. the air was thick, and as i clambered
down the fire escape my shirt clung to my chest. i had my duffel bag,
i'd packed light. still, the strap had worn sharp, and as i walked it
bit into my shoulder. i counted thirty four steps until i reached the
corner, at which point i lost my place.
- the platform at b– station was empty. check phone. next train 2
minutes. adjust watch. 2:17. check phone. 2:17.
- i always get nervous right before a trip. in middle school, i asked
my mom for notebook with a checklist template printed on every page.
before class outings i'd scan up and down that day's page over and over.
keys? check. water? check. radio? check. peterson first guide to clouds
and weather? check, though aren't we getting a little bogged down here?
at a certain point i refused to go altogether; the list had become a
great cangue around my neck. on those days i'd call up the jailer, who
hardly ever went to school anyway, and we'd go to the park or the
library and get in each other's way.
- i didn't notice the train's arrival until the doors began to close.
startled, i leapt across the gap, swinging my bag in front of me like a
battering ram. feet-floor contact, bag swung back. doors closed behind
me and the train lurched off. call it: safe.
- under usual circumstances, i don't approve of such antics. first,
consider the obvious danger of the train door. on a yearly basis very
few people are injured by means of train door, in fact, though the exact
numbers of platform-to-train-interface incidents worldwide is impossible
to know for certain, i'd estimate the total barely rises to a few
hundred per annum. but, and mind you i can't verify this empirically, i
believe that these low accident rates are downstream of the fact that
nearly all subway riders, even the belligerent drunks, the serial
gropers, the line disregarding geriatrics, use the system more or less
as intended. or rather, their misbehavior is within tolerances. jumping
from the platform to the middle of the carriage is decidely unusual,
unusual behaviors are rarely accounted for, anything you don't account
for will kill you sooner or later. this, i'd like to say, is a
statistical law, one i expect slash hope they'll name after me once i'm
gone.