Subway Fire

Late this afternoon I took the MTA Number 2 express train  from the 72nd Street station to 14th Street in the Village. At 50 miles an hour between 72nd Street and 42nd Street (Times Square) the train really gets moving, all underground.

Halfway to Times Square, a bunch of people in the car in front of me started banging on the windows of the door of my car. At first I thought it was some drunk or deranged person, but I could tell that it wasn't either. Between the cars there were a lot of people, frantically banging on the doors. Several people in my car tried to open the doors, but they were locked. (There are two doors with a window in each; one slides to the right, the other slides to the left.) As hard as they tried, they couldn't open them.

I looked into the other car to see what was the matter. I was thinking that there was someone in the train with a gun, or a deranged person acting crazy. But, no, the car was filled with smoke, and the people in it were frantic to get the hell out.

Shortly, we arrived in Times Square. When the doors opened, everyone in the smoke-filled car poured out. In my car, quite a few people left to catch a local train.

To my dismay, people entered my car, and the car that was filled with smoke. After all, it was rush hour, and people were in a hurry to get home. Momentarily, the doors would close, and all those people who had entered the smoke-filled car would have to endure the smoke until the next stop, 34th Street, Penn Station. Maybe some would pass out.

So I did what any rational person would do. I pulled the Emergency Brake. Immediately, an alarm went off. The doors didn't close and the train didn't move.

Soon, MTA personnel rushed to the smoke-filled car. I waited a few minutes for the fire department to arrive. But I had an appointment at 5:30 p.m., so I had to get going. I caught the Number 1 local and left.

Later I was thinking about the subway doors being locked, and people dying in the smoke-filled car. And I was thinking, we're lucky, or, if you will, fortunate, to be alive.