I boarded eastbound ACE train 06 at San Jose. We started to move. It was any normal evening commute at 1st. I got out my wireless headphones and connected to the free Wi-Fi, as the train slowly rolled out of Diridon station. We had been out for about two minutes, when an ear-shattering scream rang out. I looked out the front window of the cab car, then I noticed her: a woman with her husband next to her. She looked so uncomfortable! She let out a whimper. The husband said, “It’s OK, honey, only a couple minutes to Santa Clara, and the hospital will be right there.”
“No, I can’t do it!” she painfully screamed.
“Just a couple minutes, it will be alright,” said the husband.
“No, I can’t!” painfully whined the wife before she started crying, then going into a long scream.
I looked out the window at the cars passing on the road. I looked out the front, at the tracks ahead. I looked around the car. All the passengers in their soft purple seats were staring toward the front, at the distressed woman. The scream went into a descending distorted echo, similar to the end expletive lyric in the song by NWA about Police. One person had brought out an iPhone, and was filming it. Looking outside at the cars on the road, the office buildings, everything must have been so quiet and peaceful out there. I had never felt so isolated. It was like Las Vegas; it was so loud and what happened stayed there. Outsiders had no idea of the stuff happening in here. You could almost feel the heat in there. The husband remained silent, with an angry look on his face, almost like he was thinking “Why can’t they just wait a bit longer?” The loud awkward distorted scream gave way to her body opening up, and it was so epic; a new human being came out of her and onto the seat, the system’s newest passenger had been born.
The still upset-looking husband got up and said, “I need to use the restroom” and left. He must have been waiting for newborn Caleb Matthews to be born.
A girl of about 12 named Layla that was sitting nearby congratulated the mother. They had never met, but they now had a close bond. She would go on to become his babysitter and lifelong best friend.
Except for the crying baby on the seat that the husband (and now father) had been before he left to do business, everything went back to normal. Passengers got back on the computers, and minded their own business. I listened to the following personalized playlist:
“No, I can’t do it!” she painfully screamed.
“Just a couple minutes, it will be alright,” said the husband.
“No, I can’t!” painfully whined the wife before she started crying, then going into a long scream.
I looked out the window at the cars passing on the road. I looked out the front, at the tracks ahead. I looked around the car. All the passengers in their soft purple seats were staring toward the front, at the distressed woman. The scream went into a descending distorted echo, similar to the end expletive lyric in the song by NWA about Police. One person had brought out an iPhone, and was filming it. Looking outside at the cars on the road, the office buildings, everything must have been so quiet and peaceful out there. I had never felt so isolated. It was like Las Vegas; it was so loud and what happened stayed there. Outsiders had no idea of the stuff happening in here. You could almost feel the heat in there. The husband remained silent, with an angry look on his face, almost like he was thinking “Why can’t they just wait a bit longer?” The loud awkward distorted scream gave way to her body opening up, and it was so epic; a new human being came out of her and onto the seat, the system’s newest passenger had been born.
The still upset-looking husband got up and said, “I need to use the restroom” and left. He must have been waiting for newborn Caleb Matthews to be born.
A girl of about 12 named Layla that was sitting nearby congratulated the mother. They had never met, but they now had a close bond. She would go on to become his babysitter and lifelong best friend.
Except for the crying baby on the seat that the husband (and now father) had been before he left to do business, everything went back to normal. Passengers got back on the computers, and minded their own business. I listened to the following personalized playlist:
- More Than A Feeling
- You’re My Best Friend
- Runaway
- Oh What A Night
- Centerfold