Silence on the Subway

By Joe Gauger
Collegian Reporter
September 27, 2006

He looked up through the hood of his sweatshirt at the posters over his head. They are our epic tapestries, fastidiously fabricated by the master weavers of Madison Avenue and summarily dismissed by their audience. This was the reason he was camping in a subway car: solitary enough to wade through his thoughts and work out one of those petty problems that dominate one’s thoughts for an ephemeral reign and disappear under the weight of tomorrow’s calamity.

The train slid through the stations, exchanging anonymous passengers at each with sudden purpose. Few spoke over the clacking wheels; most sat in silent anticipation of their opportunity to disembark. The kid engaged in multiple mental iterations of his predicament, sighing dejectedly, ignorant of the phone-book-long body of equally insignificant problems occupying the minds of his fellow sojourners.

He had no idea how many stations had passed, but it was during the third incarnation of the same train of thought that the man was startled from his self-absorption by a single phrase too familiar and peculiar to ignore: “I kill zombies.” His introspective cocoon was instantly shattered. A desperate survey of the other passengers did not produce the source of the wayward comment. The train rolled to a halt as the kid stood to investigate his subway compatriots, and, by coincidence or common purpose, the majority of them shuffled out the doors. The doors shut, a handful of commuters sat down, and he was alone again with this thoughts. Exactly what he wanted.

gaugerj1@lasalle.edu