| Toyko
Train
by Travis
Echert
--On a crowded subway in Tokyo a tall white
man stands in the midst of a commuter rush of
shorter Japanese men and women. One man in particular,
Tomo Ozaki, notices the incongruity of the scene.
“He stands tall. Not just physically, but
in spirit too. “I wonder where he’s
going,” Tomo wonders to himself.
--The train slows
down and some of the passengers prepare their
things as the windows fill up with movement from
the crowded station. Tomo moves carefully to one
side, making room for the exiting passengers.
All is quiet, the pace of the crowd is slow but
steady. The last passenger to exit is the tall
white man Tomo had been admiring. Their eyes lock
for a second. It seems like the man is giving
Tomo a look of acknowledgment, as if he too regards
the small business man in high esteem. Tomo looks
away courteously as the man passes close.
--Suddenly, Tomo’s
legs and unmentionables feel very cold. “Much
too cold,” he thinks frantically to himself.
A wild, shrill laugh is heard out on the platform
and a tall head is moving quickly through the
crowd, leaving a wake that ends in a stunned man
with his pants around his ankles.
--Tomo looks down
at his bare legs, they are spotted with a few
coarse, black hairs. His underwear is almost entirely
visible too. It’s Friday, that means it’s
the blue and white striped pair. Tomo desperately
hopes they appear clean.
--Once Tomo’s
pants are back where they’re supposed to
be, the train begins to move again. Tomo avoids
looking at any of his fellow passengers. Not that
he needs to though, none of them are looking at
him. Everyone is occupied, doing just what they
were doing before the incident occurred.
--As the train moves
down the tracks and further into the night, the
passengers begin to file off, each of them maintaining
the distance with the passenger whose undoing
they witnessed. Upon arriving at their respective
homes, none of the passengers discuss what happened
on the train. But not a single one of them can
get out of their minds the picture of the demoralized
business man and the tall, laughing maniac, fleeing
through the crowded station.
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