Today it happened, folks. I had an actual conversation on the Green Line. I was sitting across from an older woman in the same area as another young woman. When I first got on the train, that seemed like the obvious safest spot. There were two other women, no men, and I was in the back where I could see everything. I started to question that a little bit when the older woman started scratching herself everywhere, but she was still a tiny frail-looking old woman and I wasn't the only person there, so I didn't worry about it.
Eventually the train came to a weirdly long and unscheduled stop. I didn't think about it too much, because there have been construction delays lately, but then a police officer came into our car and moved swiftly through the emergency door. That was enough to get me to pause my podcast and look around, which is when I made eye contact with the old woman. Now, one thing I have learned about Chicago, but I suspect about any city, is that people here follow the Pokemon Trainer rules of engagement. For the most part, if you manage to avoid eye contact people leave you alone, but if you slide your eyes across someone else's for even a second, something difficult to avoid in a crowded city, that is permission to engage.
Once we made eye contact, that old woman took her permission and started talking about things that had been going on with the trains. According to this old woman, about two weeks ago the story was that a different old woman had committed suicide by jumping in front of the oncoming train, but rumor had it that that wasn't true. This woman said she had been talking to other people on the El (what Chicagoans call the Elevated Trains), people who were there, and they said the woman was a tiny little thing who got blown off the platform by the wind. The woman I was talking too, tiny herself, was worrying about the same thing happening to her. She also said a young man actually had jumped in front of a train and lost both his legs, and there were fights on the trains more and more frequently, though there were even more problems on the busses. She also said that these problems were worse in black neighborhoods, and the media didn't report on it to avoid a mass hysteria. She supposed the police officer meant another fight. Then she told me, "You be careful out there, baby," and promptly fell asleep.
Eventually the train came to a weirdly long and unscheduled stop. I didn't think about it too much, because there have been construction delays lately, but then a police officer came into our car and moved swiftly through the emergency door. That was enough to get me to pause my podcast and look around, which is when I made eye contact with the old woman. Now, one thing I have learned about Chicago, but I suspect about any city, is that people here follow the Pokemon Trainer rules of engagement. For the most part, if you manage to avoid eye contact people leave you alone, but if you slide your eyes across someone else's for even a second, something difficult to avoid in a crowded city, that is permission to engage.
Once we made eye contact, that old woman took her permission and started talking about things that had been going on with the trains. According to this old woman, about two weeks ago the story was that a different old woman had committed suicide by jumping in front of the oncoming train, but rumor had it that that wasn't true. This woman said she had been talking to other people on the El (what Chicagoans call the Elevated Trains), people who were there, and they said the woman was a tiny little thing who got blown off the platform by the wind. The woman I was talking too, tiny herself, was worrying about the same thing happening to her. She also said a young man actually had jumped in front of a train and lost both his legs, and there were fights on the trains more and more frequently, though there were even more problems on the busses. She also said that these problems were worse in black neighborhoods, and the media didn't report on it to avoid a mass hysteria. She supposed the police officer meant another fight. Then she told me, "You be careful out there, baby," and promptly fell asleep.
Comments
Post a Comment