Subway Shrugging

When I got onto the subway, I took a seat across from a couple. He looked like he had eaten two of her, and his indigestion was causing him to regret his lunch. She kept her head turned away from his, so it appeared as an unwanted growth rather than a wife resting on a husband’s shoulder. This was probably why it was alarming to hear her speak first.

“So what do you think of what I said to you earlier?” She asked, reaching a thin, wrinkled hand out of the cuff of her red wool coat, stroking the lapel on his black suit jacket.

“I think asking someone to kill themselves is not appropriate.”

“Maybe not under most circumstances. But when there has been this much suffering–”

“I won’t do it and that’s final!” He barked straight ahead at no one, cutting her off. “And I won’t hear of it any longer!” Her hand dropped from his lapel, but there was no other sign she had been affected by what he said.

Both husband and wife continued to stare straight ahead, just beyond me. I didn’t want to be caught staring, so I looked over hid shoulder and unfocused my eyes, so they appeared as a large black fuzzy ball and a small red fuzzy speck on its side. The train’s hum turned to a clunk as it neared the next stop. “This is us.” He said in a much quieter voice, reaching for the overhead bar to lift his large frame from the seat. As he stood, his wife’s head bobbed to the side as a result of losing its supporting shoulder. It was this motion that caused us to lock eyes.

I’ve been told I have very large eyes, and that no matter what I try, they always betray what I’m really thinking.

The train stumbled to a halt, and my gaze was broken as I watched him move toward the door. Maybe he assumed she was behind him, maybe he knew she wasn’t. But suddenly the 2-toned chime sounded announcing the closing of the doors and he was one one side, she on the other. I looked back at her, about to say something to shake her into action. If she hurried, she could slip out before the doors were shut. As I turned toward her, her eyes were waiting for mine to catch up. She smiled at me and shrugged.