Rolling Along

When I'm on the subway, I generally have something to occupy myself, even if it's a brief ride. If it's going to be short, I'll at least have my music, because that takes up little space in the event that it goes unused. If I expect to be on there for a while, then I'll maybe have a book. That depends a little on whether the book is going to be inconvenient to have on my person when I am off the train. Some places I go are no place for a book.

If I am with friends on the train, then I'll probably leave behind the music as well as the book. After all, it would be impolite to not talk with my friends. If I expect to make the return trip alone, then I'll bring the music anyway. If I forget that I'm making the return trip alone, I'll leave the music behind and be bored during that time. Or, at least, I would be bored if I weren't so inventive in such situations. Recently this very thing happened, and I found something to do.

It was a little jawbreaker or gum ball of some kind. It had been discarded by someone, and it was rolling around the train car. It would go once way when the train got going and another way when it slowed down. It was much like that thing I wrote the other day about the tourists, only it was more exciting. The gum ball would bounce off of things or get stopped for a moment, only to get jarred loose and go off again.

I was in a pensive, irritable mood until I saw that thing. It always bothers me to end things before their time, and I'd had to leave my friends much earlier than I would have liked. That made me grumpy, but the ball brought me back. I smiled, laughed and share the joke of it with a lady sitting by me. Just when I got really attached to it (and before I got off), the poor thing disappeared for good. I don't know what happened to it, but I know what it did to me: it made me happy for a minute.