The Subway Ride

“doors are closing” Jeanie hears as she’s racing down long flight of subway steps into to the platform; rushing past the riders who had stepped off as she basically threw herself into the train car before the doors closed. She steadies herself and grasps the railing, looking around without making it too obvious to see if anybody noticed her dramatic launch into the train. But of course, nobody cared. Not that anybody would regardless (wilder things happen on a subway than a girl rushing to catch it) but on that particular day, It was too hot to care about anything. Summer had officially started in Philadelphia and, like the first bite of tikka masala when you ordered hot instead of your usual mild, the heat comes out of nowhere and knocks you on your ass. Philadelphia summers can be summed up as three things: wet, hot and sticky. Spring is typically the most beautiful time in the city; with longer sunnier days, the blooming trees and bustling beer gardens and (unlike summer) is welcomed by all. But like most things it comes and goes too quickly, and once you start acclimating to the warm sun and feel like only yesterday you shed your hoodies and boots… BOOM! The 90+ degree days and 70% humidity of summer hit you like a ton of bricks. The subway station was a clear victim in the summer heat, it’s walls and railings damp with the humidity and moisture of thousands of riders paired with the fact that it’s underground with no air flow. Jeanie remembers this now, after she had glided her hand against the wall while quickly rounding the corner to the stairs, and promptly wiped her hand on her pants.

Oh, that was the other thing about a quickly onset summer, you become accustomed to the weather of springtime: cool mornings, warm or hot afternoons and cool evenings, rinse and repeat. However now that summer has swung it’s fist of fiery fury down on everyone, the weather has promptly turned into: wet mornings, HOT afternoons and sticky evenings (remember the three?) So without thinking to checking the weather app this morning on her phone, Jeanie wore what she had been accustomed to wearing the past few weeks, a tank top and… JEANS!

That’s right, Jeans. A nightmare in a moist hot subway car in summer. Clinging to your legs and conjuring up the most despicable swamp ass cocktail for you to unveil later once you finally get home to change. Jeanie had been so caught up with literally running to catch the train, now that she had boarded the heat was starting to catch up to her and she was realizing how uncomfortable she really was. Her bra felt a little too tight, her tank top hugged her armpits a little too snug and she had a wedgie the size of Texas that (even though, again, nobody cares what anybody else does on the train) she couldn’t bear to lose the last strain of dignity she had to pick it.

Jeanie used to like summers in the city; the hustle and bustle of everyone outside, constant sunshine and countless places to get an Aperol spritz. But since she started working regular double shifts at the coffee shop, she dreaded summer because it was “iced coffee season”. Jeanie didn’t understand the connection between the hot summer weather and the uptick of people ordering iced drinks. Well, let me be more specific, she understood the obvious: hot weather means people want something cold to drink to cool them off. But there was something different, almost ravenous about people needing iced drinks in the hot summer weather. Even in the springtime when the days would peak at 80 degrees people would still order drip coffee or hot tea, or in the early fall before it was time to break out the Doc Martens and zip-up hoodies, people wanted their pumpkin spice lattes hot. But in the summer, people demanded (and only demanded) iced drinks. It drove Jeanie nuts. Iced coffee season meant the shop would constantly run out of things. Like flavored syrups, because everyone wanted a sweet treat to walk around the farmers market with. Or oat milk to put in their iced coffee. Or fresh lemon and mint for their iced teas. Regardless of the time, or the popular drink of the day, the shop was always busy and constantly running out of things. Today, of all things, to christen the first true day of summer, they ran out of ice! That’s right, ice. And their poor ice machine was running like a racehorse, popping out as many cubes as it could, but it just couldn’t keep up with the demand. And instead of daring to deny a customer of their iced beverage (which might as well be a declaration of war) Jeanie had to rush to the nearest supermarket and grab half a dozen bags of ice. Add insult to injury, she had used up the last of her travel fare on the bus to take her to the nearest grocery store and back. Which she was bluntly reminded of as she was rushing to catch the subway before being stopped dead at the turnstile. Summer can be blamed for this whole debacle as well: No summer heat- no iced coffee- no ice run- no empty fare card- no rushing to refill it to catch the train- no running- no swamp ass- you get the picture.

Jeanie finally catches her breath and looks around the train car (no empty seats) so she gets her bearings and continues to hold the railing as the train starts moving south to the other stops. She’s finally starting to become more comfortable, taking longer and deeper breaths as the train is barreling down the tracks, past some more north Philly stops and getting into center city. “city hall station, connections to…” Jeanie recites the intercom message to herself, she’s heard it a thousand times at least. She likes to remember all the connections of each subway stop. Not for any personal use, but because she likes to recite them in her head and mouth the words to her friends when they ride the subway together. It usually gets some giggles or at least a heartfelt eye roll. After a crowd of people unload and load onto the car, she notices a row of seats has opened up opposite her. She looks around and then shimmies over to them. She checks them first (you never know what people will leave behind on a subway seat) and once determines them fit for her swamp-assy behind, she finally gets to sit down. She looks around at everyone else to see what they’re wearing; she does this on days where she feels improperly dressed for the weather to see if she’s not the only one. She notices a couple across the car, the woman in a sundress and her companion wearing jorts and a tshirt with the sleeves cut off “somebody was smart and checked their phone this morning” she thought. Then her eyes cut to a man wearing boots, jeans and a hoodie snuggled in his arms. She felt less bad about underestimating the balmy nature of today’s weather. She subtly looked around at the rest of the people sharing her car and determined it was a good 50/50 mix of people who dressed appropriately for today’s heat vs. not (excluding people who were obviously in a work uniform/ dress code) those poor bastards wouldn’t be able to dress for the weather even if they wanted to. Jeanie felt lucky because she could wear whatever she wanted at the coffee shop. As long as shorts and skirts weren’t too short, and tank tops had a thick enough strap, she could dress however she liked. She didn’t envy people who worked in corporate or more professional settings, even though her resume and reputation with her parents would benefit from a job like that.

The subway ride was long, but Jeanie liked it. The coffee shop was a few stops north of center city and her apartment was all the way in the south. She embraced the minute or two the subway doors were opening at each stop, hoping for one cool gust of air to enter the car, but was only met with more hot thick air that sat thick in the air like steam after a shower. Getting closer to her stop, she gets a text from her friend. “Hey! Collin has the flu so I think I better stay home and take care of him. Sorry to cancel : ( how about Tuesday for dinner instead??” Jeanie reads this and responds with a resounding “Ya of course! Tuesday would be great, tell Collin not to die! Haha” and puts her phone in her lap. Dinner with Sammy was mostly the reason Jeanie was in such a rush. Now that its canceled, Jeanie has her evening free. Although she loves her friend and wants to see her, after the day she’s had (and the days she will inevitable be having for the rest of the summer) she’s embracing a night off to take things easy. Jeanie take a big deep breath and lets out an almost audible “sigh” and a small smile cracks at the corners of her mouth. She feels almost recovered after her train ride, and with a newfound freedom to do whatever she wants for the evening, she thinks about what her next moves will be. After stepping out of the subway station and up onto the sidewalk she looks around and thinks to herself “I could use an iced coffee”.