Little while ago, I was on the subway. It was late at night, and it was one of the trains with the sidelong bench seats that faced each other on either side of the car.
As I live the stop before the terminus at 207th Street, the further uptown you go, the more the train empties out, especially that late at night.
So, eventually, it’s just me and a handful of other people.
The train turns, and out from under a bench rolls a cup. It was one of those heavy duty plastic ones.
So eventually, as the train moves it starts rolling back and forth in an arcing motion. I am watching it, and depending on he motion of the train, sometimes the arc increases, sometimes it decreases. Sometimes it makes a complete circle.
There was this other guy on the opposite bench, and he is also just sitting there, watching the cup. So the two of us have been watching this cup, arcing and circling for a few minutes.
Finally:
ROB: OK, here’s the game: Don’t move your feet. Whoever’s feet this cup touches first wins the game.
GUY: OK, you’re on:
ROB: Ready, set, go!
So for the rest of the ride, we’re sitting there, cheering the cup on as it approaches one of our feet, the train lurches at the critical moment and changes the game so the cup rolls close to the other one’s feet, yelling at the cup when it rolls in the wrong way.
I think it came very close to each one of our feet, but I had to get off before the game was concluded.
But it was absolutely fun spending the last few minutes of my ride playing an impromptu game with an absolute stranger.
Down The Rabbit Hole With Rob 