I boarded the already packed cart and scooted in far enough to avoid getting sandwiched between the closing doors. An old man who boarded at the next train stop (Foggy bottom) was not so lucky, he had to hold and squeeze through as the doors came forcefully together. You see, the train doors are not people sensitive, when they come together, you need to get out of the way. He scrapped through unscathed but in his rush caused commotion, pushing the already jammed, exhausted, I-must-get-home-immediately passengers further inside. In an audible and upset tone one man looked at him and said "Oh! come on man! there are several trains coming behind us. Why didn't you just wait?" He rolled his eyes and puffed like a boiling kettle. Still reminiscing his narrow escape, the old man stared back perplexed. "We all want to get home, don't we?!" The miffed man turned away. Passengers raised eyebrows and exchanged glances. Conversations between strangers begun in soft tones.
As we neared Court house the lady to my right leaned forward, from the reactions in front of me something was not right. She leaned in further and I grabbed her arm, she was losing control, going down. I held her firm and suggested she be given a seat while someone yelled "press the emergency button!". Immediately a man shouted "No! You need to get her off the train!" the doors opened and passengers off boarding carried her along. She had passed out and was lying flat on the floor. They raised her head onto the soft spot of her bag while attempting to get information for an emergency contact. The rest of us watched silently. The train doors closed. We had to get home.
Two stops later, two gentlemen boarded and one exclaimed "There seem to be more people going home than go to work in the morning" I couldn't help but smile.
We were still huddled close together when the heavy man standing in front of me got into a groove, the music sipping through his ear phones was pumping in his veins. He bobbed his head more furiously and the rest of his body joined in. Now, it was bad enough that we were in such close quarters but the extra movement made the situation a tad more ... shall we say complicated?
At West falls church a quarter of the passengers alighted and I was able to get a seat. The man next to me exclaimed "Now, that is a lot better" I nodded in agreement. He'd boarded the train before I did and had witnessed the events; the angry man, the fainting lady, the remarks...
He suspected the fainting woman had a medical condition. He ruled out hunger saying that usually happened in the morning when one left home on an empty stomach. He then proceeded to share how his daughter had fainting bouts and was diagnosed with P.O.T.S. He also told me about an app that sends updates on the Metro train schedule in case of delays and other news.In the space of 30 minutes I had not only seen an upset man and a fainting woman but I learned about a disease I had never heard of before and learned there was an app for Metro updates.
Enough for one day!
