Soon after we sat down to wait for the next subway train, a woman and her young son walked up and sat near us. I didn’t notice them at first, but then the boy erupted in an exclamation of unconstrained glee.
“I’ve never ridden a train before!”
A few seconds later, he repeated himself, this time jumping up from his seat and shouting.
“Oh I’ve just never ridden a train before!!”
His mother smiled at us and got him to sit back down. Then a few seconds later, clearly unable to stand the suspense of waiting for the train to arrive, he got shouted again.
“A train. A train! I can’t wait for the train!!”
And he wiggled his body and shook his head and flailed his arms in ecstasy at the very thought of it.
And of course, in just a few moments we could hear the arriving train coming down the subway tunnel.His mother stood up and as the train came out of the dark tunnel, she grabbed his hand, and they walked up to board.
He’ll never forget it. How is it possible that he’d ever forget? I certainly won’t.