We were standing shoulder to shoulder in the orange line train. Trudy was behind me. A man in a suit was in front of me. He had a black nylon business case on his shoulder. It was embroidered with Deloitte. He was reading the Washington Post.
The train stopped and more people came in thru the doors. We all shuffled and moved to the back of the car. A woman now stood between me and the man. She was also in a suit and was talking on the phone with white ear buds in her ears. The man looked up at her periodically.
When she stopped talking, the man caught her eye and said, “Katherine, right?”
She smiled and nodded, and they started talking. Evidently she worked for Deloitte, too. They talked about job assignments. And they talked about their travels. And about politics at work. And when the train stopped, she said, “This is my stop,” and got off.
The man stayed on the train, and when it started moving he reached into his bag. First one compartment then another, shifting from one leg to the other as the train rocked back and forth, keeping his balance by leaning against a stainless steel pole.
He was looking for something and not finding it.
He reached into the main compartment of the bag and then into the compartments he had already searched. He took his folded up newspaper out and searched all over again, an increasingly frantic look on his face, pushing his hand into corners looking for something that clearly was not there.
A grim look came over his face, and he started checking his suit coat. First his outside pockets. Then the inside ones. Left then right and checking them all again. And now checking the bag again, now with panicked urgency.
When the train came to a stop at the next station, he lost his balance and almost fell down. The doors opened, and he rushed out onto the station platform.
This was the orange line to Vienna. I suspect he was about to go around and catch the other orange train back to New Carrollton. I hope he eventually found whatever he was looking for.