Twittering

Track No. 9

        I got on the wrong train the other morning. Folks who don’t know the city have no idea how that is possible. Which direction could it go? they ask. Doesn’t it go one direction with no variation. That’s the case if you get on the train in any other spot than the originating station. Where I get on the train, I have to find my train amongst sixteen different tracks. Trains are coming and going every five minutes, with crowds of suburban people running every which direction, oblivious to people in their paths.
        My train leaves from Track 9. Every morning. Track 9.
        So I walk through the station. Go to track 9. Look at the board. First stop, Clybourn. Get on the train. Get out my laptop. Get comfortable. Start working. I’m 15 minutes early. All is well in the world.
        But my peeps are not here. In fact, other people are sitting in their spot.
        An announcement.
        “This train is departing to Crystal Lake... ”
        What?
        I gathered up my stuff and hopped off the train. Check the watch. 7:25. My train leaves at 7:25.
        I run downstairs and check the board. My train is no longer on it. It’s 7:26.
        I sit down, trying to figure out what to do. Trying to figure out what happened. That’s when it occurs to me that the Crystal Lake line stops at Clybourn as well. What went wrong? There were not announcements of a track change. No message scrolling across the message boards. Any time there is a change, it’s well publicized. But not this morning.
        There was another train leaving in 15 minutes, but it was only going to Highland Park. The next train to Lake Forest was an hour and ten minutes later. So I decided to get the train to Highland Park, and call someone for a ride. And by the time I got into the office, word had spread. Through the office, across campus, that Tim got on the wrong train.