The subway ride from Bethesda to Dupont Circle in Washington was dominated by the presence of one man. He was standing behind me, back toward the doors, and he had a disturbing half-smile on his face. His eyelids were droopy, as if he was drugged, and he seemed to be staring into a dimension that was invisible to everybody else. He was ominous, this guy. Never blinking, his gaze managed to pass either through or around all the other passengers, and in this way he never looked upon a person directly, but still you felt the threat of him everywhere, his presence a haunting. Every once in awhile, for no apparent reason, his smile would broaden and then retreat, and then he would slowly, fastidiously, dab around the corners of his mouth with a Kleenex. It was creepy, and although Rachelle kept squeezing my hand whenever I turned to look back at him, I couldn’t stop myself.
We were delighted when our stop arrived, exiting at the opposite end of the train from him, wondering where he was coming from and where he was going. We took the incredibly long escalators up to the surface, watching as one couple walked the steps between the two escalators, as people, happy and joking on a Friday night, shouted encouragements, “ Dig deep! You can do it! Just 3000 more steps! You the man!”
We had a wonderful dinner at DC Coast, and then amidst the professional beggars and partiers, made our way back to the subway. The Washington-Baltimore baseball game had just ended, and the train was full of baseball fans returning home. Everybody was midnight happy, pushed close together and sharing stories. Out of the corner of my eye I caught sight of one man sitting alone, probably in his 60’s. He had the classic look of a Washington insider–loafers, lovely dark blue suit, pinstriped shirt, designer tie and tortoiseshell glasses. It struck me that he very much resembled a type, and that was the progressive democrat, the type of person I used to see on Sunday morning talk shows all the time when Clinton was in power, but whom I haven’t seen in a long time since then.
There was a sweetness to this man, and he looked upon Rachelle and I with a real gentleness. He seemed happy, like he was grateful to have found himself at this time and place in the world, in this city, with so many happy people around him.