Train People I Love

Now that I've been commuting into NYC for over a month, I feel confident in sharing my three favorite people from the trains:

1) The News Vultures - these are the people who scuttle from seat to seat to see if other passengers have discarded newspapers. They search with this wild look in their eye, like Geoffrey Rush in "Pirates of the Carribean" crossed with Jennifer Wilbanks.

2) The Smokers - Holy Crap! I remember smoking, but I never remember needing a cigarette as bad as smokers on the train need one. They are always perched at the door, smoke in their mouth, ready to bound through the open door and light up. Carl Lewis didn't come off the blocks faster than these folks. Once, a guy was getting off at the same stop as me, and he was trying to time igniting his lighter with the opening of the doors. He false alarmed three times. Addiction is fun!

3) The Drinkers - I love the guys in suits drinking the cans of Bud in the paper bags on the ride home. Like the News Vultures, they have a signature expression - they look like children who know they're getting away with something. The giggle and laugh and act guilty, and I'm like, "You're getting all these jollies from a Pabst Blue Ribbon?" (Not to dis the PBR, but come on) These people are not to be confused with the people who have the beer in the paper bag and the bag of hot, fresh-popped popcorn from Penn Station. Those people always look like they've got it all figured out, and you know, they just might.