Finding Your Way Back On Track
By Urban Thought on December 17, 2009 @ 12:02 pm
After a long night of debauchery I attempted to board the train with one goal in sight: making it home. That is great and in all until you sit down and get comfortable. My eye lids became so heavy, so I ended up putting my head in my lap. Before I knew it, I found my way deep in a transit sleep. I only hope I didn’t lean over someone or start drooling — or worse, snoring.
By the time I woke up I was deep into a section of Brooklyn I had no business being in. Unaware of the stop I hopped off the train and decided to go above ground. I thought to catch a cab but quickly realized I had no money in my pocket. That blows. There was no ATM in sight. No bodega offering a bootleg ATM that would charge you $5 to remove $20. So instead of getting the train in the opposite direction I decided to walk.
The smart person I am, I charged my phone before I left the bar. Quickly, I clicked on the Google Maps app and found the best way to get to Atlantic Ave Station. I haven’t been to downtown Brooklyn in a while — not much has changed.
At 3am in the morning the platform was full of people.
Like a zealous New Yorker, I peered down the subway tunnel to see if an arriving train was anywhere in sight. It was not. Taking in my surroundings, I notice a woman kneeling down next to the edge of the platform. I wasn’t sure if she was fatigued from a long night or looking for something in her bag.
She then proceeded to get on all fours, maybe hoping that someone would show her where the wild goose goes. I wasn’t too sure, but I thought it was a great moment to pull out the camera.
You cannot pull out a camera on a subway platform without being noticed. Folks started moving towards me, curious about what motivated my shutterbug moment. We all stared at this woman getting close to the edge.
I’m not sure what was going through her mind. Maybe she thought her life was on the wrong track and needed to inspect it before getting back on the train. Or maybe it was so far off track that she thought to assume the position because her life is f*cked.
I only wonder if she had friends to help her through what would be later learned was a drunken stupor.
Well you’ve become “that guy” on the train. Maybe someday you’ll be “that guy” at the train station and know exactly what was going through her mind. As far as I can recall, I’ve been “that guy” peeing in the sink, “that guy” being carried up the stairs, and “that guy” seemingly unconscious in the bushes. It isn’t like you’ve planned on being that guy. It just sort of happens.
It sure does happen — a lot. I’ll have to opt for a cab in the future just so I won’t be that guy.
Wow there could have been so many things going on in these pictures. She could have dropped something and was checking to see if it landed on the track or she could have been so wasted that she was ready to do the unthinkable.
I had a night of debauchery myself and I but in CT. The subway is not the best place to doze off but someone may have a picture of you drooling on someone.
I was in the city this week and froze my ass of walking.
I think it looks like she dropped something and was looking for it, BUT she shouldn’t be leaning over onto the tracks like that Sober or DRUNK! Just looking at that picture is making me nervous for her!
What Meleah said; good capture of an anxiety-producing scene.
Only you would be able to capture the classic moments. . . nice blog.