We met him at Rosslyn station waiting for a train.
We had moved to the far end of the platform from where we were originally standing, because a crowd of 8th graders had poured off the escalator and were making such a racket we could hardly think. And after we had been standing there a while, he walked up with others who were moving away from the kids, and he stood beside us.
He asked what direction these trains were going. We must have looked like we knew what we were doing. I chucked to myself: twice in one day.
He had just flown in from Flint, he said, but was born in Jordan. He needed to renew some papers and was going to the embassy north of downtown off Wisconsin Avenue. He knew he needed to take the red line, but that was all he knew. Rosslyn station was orange or blue.
He had a metro map, but he was confused, so we showed him how to use it. We showed him how the little dots are the normal stops and the double dots are the stations where you can transfer to a different line. We pointed to Rosslyn station and then to the double dot at L’Enfant Plaza downtown where he could change to the red line. And we told him how to make sure he caught the northbound train. He was grateful for our help.
“There’s so much to learn here,” he said.
And then a train arrived. I don’t remember whether it was orange or blue; either was fine for all three of us.
The car was crowded when we got on, so we had to stand and hold on to the overhead rails. As we passed thru the stations—Foggy Bottom, Farragut West, MacPherson Square—I showed him how to tell where we were.
And then we arrived at Metro Center. We all got off.
“Catch the red line over there,” I said. “Take the escalator up and make sure to catch the red line to Shady Grove.”
“Ok,” he said. “Thanks.”
And he disappeared into the crowd.