Run, Run

I am now happily seated on the 4:05 train heading toward Union Station in D.C., after a very productive meeting that went a little long (I was supposed to be on the 3:05 – ah well…). After we broke, I knew that the 3:05 train was out of the question, so I re-booked for an hour later. I was told I’d have to go to the counter to get a new ticket when I arrived at Penn Station, since my old ticket (which already printed out when I checked in for my trip yesterday) had to be cancelled. Fine, not a problem. So I head into New York, hitting a bit of traffic on the way, but nothing major, just a few slow patches. It then dawns on me that I was supposed to fill the car up with gas. Now, it’s been a long time since I lived in or around the New York metropolitan area. So the amount of time that I spend looking for gas stations in Manhattan these days is pretty minimal. I quickly did a calculation in my head, and then decided that I would just have to return the car half-empty (and then have to sell my eggs to pay for what the rental company charges for gas). I returned the car, hopped into a cab, and looked at my watch. 3:45. Hmm…well, if traffic wasn’t too bad and the line wasn’t too long, I might be able to make it. I had dramatic visions in my head of me running down a platform through a cloud of steam (in those movies, the trains are always surrounded by clouds of steam), yelling something like “hold the train! Please, I have to get on that train!”

All of which was complete crap, because of course there’s another train that leaves in an hour, so it’s not a big deal if I miss this one – it’s just annoying. The cab driver drops me off, and I haven’t been paying much attention (silly Mandy…). So I get out, and look across the street and see signs for the subway and the LIRR (Long Island Railroad).

Samanabastich. He dropped me at the wrong entrance.

I speed-walk my way around to the correct entrance, trot down the stairs, and see the line in which I’m supposed to stand. It’s not short. I silently fume (except for the part where I call Special K to tell him that I’ll be late – there was a little “AUNT MANDY, YOU SAID A BAD WORD” type of language there), and wait in line, since there’s nothing I can do, and no one in that station is responsible for the fact that I may miss my train. The second one.

It’s my turn at the ticket window and I explain that I was supposed to be on the 3:05, then the 4:05, but since it doesn’t look like I’ll make it, I should get a ticket for the 5:05. The girl looks at the clock, looks at me, and says “You have one minute, Miss. They may not have closed the doors yet…” and her hands start to move at a lightning pace. She flings my picture ID under the glass window at me, followed by my ticket, and as I’m asking her if I need to sign anything she said “No! Run, run!!” So I run, almost wiping out around a particularly sharp corner (almost), and bolting down to the train platform – the doors appear to be closed and as I turned to look at the bored Amtrak employee on the platform, the doors open, I run inside the train, and feel it pull out of the station approximately 5 seconds later.

Now, I know that in terms of real life drama, this rates very, very low. But it was still kind of fun. Even if there were no clouds of steam.