19/ Alone in the Subway

I was on the subway all by myself in an empty car, but it was during the day, when everything somehow seems safer. I was reading as usual, but when someone sat down directly across from me, I could see his lower pant legs and feet without looking up. They started twitching, then jumping up and down, which wasn’t all that unusual because young males often rode the subway carrying a boom box back then, and he could have been reacting to the music. But I heard no music, so when the jumping grew frenetic I looked up. He was masturbating, completely exposed.

I ran to the end of the car and opened the gates. I’d changed subway cars before, but it wasn’t my favorite thing to do. So dark in the tunnels. So much movement from the cars. Cold black air rushing by. The next car was empty too, so I opened two more gates and ran on. Found a conductor. Told him.