LoriLoo

Destination Unknown

Maybe it’s my approachable face. Maybe I carry myself with an air of authority. Whatever it is, I am constantly approached by strangers for information about how to take BART. I have finally realize my desire to be a superhero. I am BART INFO GIRL.

This morning, long before the sun decided to shine, I was at Bayfair Station, waiting for my Fremont transfer. A man got off a San Francisco train on the opposite track and wandered, searching, trying to decide who of the few of us to approach. I knew it would be me. It always is.

I concentrated on the clack, clack, clack of my knitting needles in my lap then saw them. The shoes, planted in front of me.

“Miss? Miss?” I looked up. “Which way to San Francisco Airport?”

I pointed to the track where he had just come from. “Over there.”

“But I just got off that train.” He stared at me blankly.

I stared back. I wasn’t sure how to reply. His eyes pleaded. That *couldn’t* be the train to San Francisco. He was just on that train. He had gotten off, therefore he had to take another train. Not that one.

I pointed to the destination sign. In red dot-matrix letters that pierced the dark morning flashed the words “San Francisco Airport train – 2 minutes.” “The train will arrive in two minutes. Right over there. That side.”

He stared at me in utter disbelief. “No. I just got off that train. It must be somewhere else.”

“No, really,” I countered. “This track goes to Fremont. That side goes to San Francisco. Catch the next train and take it to the end of the line. It will take you to SFO. Really.”

Head down, shaking it in disbelief, he walked back over to the opposite side of the tracks. I heard him muttering faintly, “But I just got off this train…”