Sunday on the Subway

This past Sunday, we were leaving church and heading home. It was approximately 1:05PM on a brilliant sunny day - blue skies and not a cloud! We had just left choir practice (every Sunday we meet at 9:15AM to go over music for the 10:00 service and then we meet from 11:40-1:00PM for additional practice. Quite a little commitment of time, but alas...) Anyway, so we're leaving church...we have beautiful music in our hearts...it's a gorgeous day...the city disappoints, but we soldier on...blah, blah, blah.

We enter the subway at Columbus Circle and the "1" train (going "Uptown") wasn't running local, which means it wouldn't be stopping at 79th Street. We live on 83rd Street, so this is "our stop". Throughout the day, depending on the train, time of day, the color of your underoos, etc. the trains will run local or may run express. "Local" means they stop at every scheduled stop along that route. "Express" means the train will only hit certain major stops. Certain trains will run express during heavy traffic times like morning and evening rush hours, to get commuters home a little faster. It's a tad confusing, made more so by the construction done on the subway lines over the weekend. You often don't know until you climb down into the bowels of the city that the train you need isn't running. We have learned to pay attention to postings on Fridays detailing weekend construction that will affect your travel plans.

As you enter the subway, you swipe your little Transit card and it allows you entrance onto the platform where you wait for the next train. So we're underground, we swiped our card and we're following the signs for the 1 Uptown. The entrance to this platform is blocked off due to construction so we decide to go up to street level and look for "C Uptown". As we exited the turnstile, we saw an entrance to C Uptown from the direction we had just come. For anyone who hasn't spent time in New York, the subway system can be a mite confusing. So, we tried to swipe our card to get back in, but the card reader screen read "Just used". When this happened to me once before, I explained it to the nice gentleman behind the thick glass in the grimy booth and he allowed me entrance through a big, black metal door (rather reminiscent of a prison, if the truth be known).

On this occasion, while I still have "Jesus, Jesus, Rest Your Head" lingering in my happy heart, I explain to the attendant that in all the construction confusion we lost our way and needed the C Uptown, but our cards wouldn't work. I forgot to tell you that the lady in the booth was talking to a friend when we came up and she wasn't too quick to ask how she could help us. In fact, she didn't ask how she could help us, and this is one of the mysteries that make communication in New York so challenging. For one, there is no eye contact. We're in an extremely noisy area, underground where light is poor at best and you're looking at someone behind a thick, grimy window and there is no eye contact.

It's hard to know when the attendant is ready to help, so after an appropriate amount of time, I begin my explanation of what we were needing. She begins to nod her head from side to side...wait, I recognize this as some sort of primeval communication method...I think she's trying to tell me something...she asked me to run my card through. What? Where? I think silently. The attendant's friend showed me where I was to run my card through and the screen reads "Just used". She continued to shake her head from side to side, and said "I'll let you through today, but next time you're going to have to wait," and she pointed in the direction of the big, black metal door just steps away. I started to walk, but then I realized I had a question. Wait? Why would we have to wait next time? I didn't understand, and thinking this a reasonable time to be educated on some new subway factoid, I turned back toward the booth and asked why.

Honestly, it's at this time in the story when the details become blurred. I'm not sure exactly what I asked, but I remember being confused about why we might have to wait. Why would next time be different? But her answer was, "Next time you'll have to wait 18 minutes." She said this in a manner that suggested it was a statement of fact; apparently everyone knows this. I didn't however and needed clarification. "I don't understand. Why would we have to wait 18 minutes?" The attendant began to get agitated. I think she thought I was causing a problem, when in fact, I was just trying to understand. I began to explain that we're "new", "from Texas", we "didn't understand", etc.

I seem to remember leaning in close to the booth so I could hear better. Maybe this made my voice louder. I'm sure I used my hands when I was explaining my confusion. Maybe this appeared threatening. I honestly don't know. Somewhere in there I said, "Thank you" and maybe I didn't sound gracious. I was trying to emphasize my sincere gratitude for this apparent favor she was doing us. I still didn't understand, but she said, "Fine. You can just wait then."

Well, by now I'm pissed. I still don't know what is magic about 18 minutes and I don't know why she won't let us through the big, black metal door. All she has to do is push a button. I'm sure I ask, "What?" (to be read with sheer exasperation) and finally I hear, "Just go!" Christina and I stumble through the big, black metal door stunned, with the sound of her angry, frustrated voice ringing through the subway. I'm still asking myself what happened and trying to understand what was so confusing about that and how it became so misunderstood. The whole exchange lasted maybe a minute. Within minutes of leaving church, I was crying on the subway platform (the real sad, heaving kind of cry when you're just hurt through). Best I can figure is that due to the construction she had a lot of confused people needing to be let back through. I tried to give her some credit; I know that not every one speaks English in New York and it might be hard to communicate in another language through that thick, grimy window. I tried to consider and appreciate that she might have had to push that button more times than her spirit was willing that day, and maybe we were the last straw. I don't know and I still don't know why we have to wait 18 minutes, but I'll let you know when I do.