| The Train Ride By Sandra Bunino |
platform’s stairs two at a time, she slipped into
the closest train car with just a minute to spare.
A deep breath filled her lungs as Alexis glanced
around the crowded car. She was used to the
regular crowd of business people on the New
Haven bound route, but there was a different buzz
on the train that day. It was Christmas time, which
meant throngs of suburbanites flooded the city for
their annual shopping and Rockefeller Center tree
viewing day. She rolled her eyes at the couples
and families tittering happily as she passed rows
of passenger-filled seats.
Scarcely an empty seat could be found in the
first few train cars. The thought of listening to
kids shrieking Christmas carols for the next hour
made her skin crawl anyway. It wasn’t as though
she hated Christmas. She only hated the preholiday frenzy. If she saw one more candy cane,
reindeer or tacky Santa, she was sure she’d lose
it. The sugary-sweet-make-your-teeth-hurt part of
Christmas bugged her. It was one big nuisance
and unless you were ten or had a ten year-old kid,
what was the point? Really. A smile teased at her
lips as she remembered the events from her past
few Christmas holidays.
Alexis scanned the rows and rows of occupied
seats. Her feet ached as she continued from car
to car through the seemingly never ending train.
Hope of having a peaceful ride home dwindled
with every steel door that slammed in back of her.
She lowered her hopes to just finding a seat within
a five-foot non-screaming kid radius. Pushing
onward, she figured there were just a few more
cars until the end of the train. Despite her frayed
nerves, the gentle rocking eased her into a sleepy
haze, and she was determined to find a seat in the
last car. A loud clang of the handle echoed before
she pulled on the heavy door.
Then . . . pure silence.
Her ears perked. Surely, the car wasn’t empty.
She stepped into the compartment and looked
around. An attendant looked up from his reading.
62 | www.BTSeMag.com
“This is the quiet car, Miss,” he whispered.
The quiet car? She’d never ventured far enough
into the train to find the quiet car. Glancing around
the compartment, she spotted only an older
couple in the third row. She was about to collapse
into a seat a few rows from the pair when a single
overhead light switched on. Her gaze was drawn
to the back of the car and directly into a set of dark
eyes staring right back at her.
***
Glancing over the top of the seat in front of
him, his eyes washed over the beautiful woman
entering the cabin. Long hair partially covered
one eye and swept over her shoulder like black
silk. The tails of her corporate style blouse hung
loose, and the first few buttons below her neck
were undone revealing the hint of something lacey
underneath. She stopped to brush the hair from
her face and scan the cabin. It took her all of three
seconds to lock onto his stare.
The racing train matched the uptick of his
heartbeat as she walked up the aisle. Her eyes
never wavered from his. She continued her slow
procession to the back of the train until she stood
directly next to his row.
“Is that seat taken?” she asked, nodding her head
once to the unoccupied seat to his right.
“I don’t believe it is,” he said after clearing his
throat.
He detected a slight smile from her full lips as she
hoisted the leather briefcase that hung from her
arm up and slid it into the overhead compartment.
A wave of heat hit his cheek, and he stole an
appreciative glance at the strip of warm skin
peeking between the top of her skirt’s waistband
and the bottom of her untucked blouse as she
stretched to adjust her stowed case.