i was riding the CTA red line this afternoon and on my way home sat next to this large man who seemed rather anxious, for several stops, to get off the train. once we'd passed a couple stops and he didn't get off, i started becoming anxious along with him.
all of the sudden (with these four words you know this is going to be a great story), in between stops, he gets up, unlatches the emergency exit bar on the rear door (the bells didn't go off which was half my disconcert)and proceeds to straddle the two cars, each foot supported only by a three each lip on each car. he stared down at the cables and chains that jiggled and straped below. i look around the car. i wondered: does anyone think this is as absurd as i do? i was certain I was going to witness this man's suicidal death. no one else saw him. truly. only i. i wondered if i was to reach out and save him. shoudl i give him some interventive therapy? question his choice? was this one of the pavlovian moments where they are many people surrounding a person in distress and everyone, hoping the next person would act, doesn't reach out in care?
just when i thought i couldn't take it any longer, he comes back into my car, sits down, and proceeds to call his buddy on his shiny verizon cellphone. everyone else still not giving a s**t. And I...completely perplexed!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment