“Heading East”
Sep 16, 2019The train rocks back and forth, heading east on Long Island. Tony looks out the window on his left, watching the small towns pass by. He wipes a smudge left by some small child pressing her lips to the dirty glass on a previous trip. Kids are disgusting, he thinks to himself. Bless their disgusting little souls.
Brandy is waiting for Tony at the train station in Speonk. Tony has never been this far east on the island. She’s been out in the Hamptons working on a film her best friend got a lot of money to make. He’s looking forward to seeing her. His life has been too quiet and lonely without her around.
The train is filled with loud, chatty people heading to their summer homes. A few voices speak languages Tony doesn’t understand, but most of the voices are undeniably Long Islandese.
“What kind of car are you gonna get?”
“Probably another BMW.”
“Oh, I hear the new 7-series is beautiful.”
“Yeah, I went to the dealership the other day and took one for a spin. Real smooth ride.”
Tony wonders what it must be like to afford a 7-series BMW. He hasn’t owned a car in years but his last one was a 30-year-old Volvo that was in the shop every other week. If Tony was smarter, he would have put all the money he spent repairing the clunker toward a new car. But Tony was a simple man and preferred the ease of riding the train.