I Met my Wife in a Cracker Jack Box
Tuesday September 16, 2003
11:21 AM


On the train platform he stood waiting to begin his commute. In the meantime he glanced through the sections of the morning paper sorting them into the order he would read them. After thumbing through the pages he fixed his eyes on an article and started to read. In the pocket of his overcoat he pulled out a cracker jack box and opened it as he read. While reading he would slip his hand into the box and pull out a few pieces eating them one at a time.

As always the train was a few minutes late, but this being better than it being delayed for an hour. The people on the platform filed in and looked for spots. He took a seat towards the back of the car next to the window. Every once in a while he would lower the paper and lok out at the passing suburbs. He could watch the frost of the morning melt into a sparkling dw that sat heavy on the grass and trees. He came to the community section of the paper and read over the groups pushing for higher standards or asking for more money. Sprinkled within those parts were the achievements of school children or of some good samaritan.

He sat straight up in his chair and held the paper at eye level. Behind the paper a woman's voice carried through the paper though her face was not in site. The voice kept on as he read and he became distracted and had to read spots in the article again. Then a face poked over from the side of the paper. The woman appeared and said, "Excuse me, hi. I wasn't sure if I got your attention. I guess not."

"I'm sorry."

"I am too, I didn't mean to interrupt you from your paper."

He went back to reading and snacking on the cracker jack. He finished the local section and considered putting the sections he read on the seat next to him so that someone else could read them, but he just folded them and put them in the back of the pile. While moving on to the next section he reached into the box and felt a piece of paper, which was most likely a sticker, along with what felt like a ring. He pulled them from the box and put them into his pocket and finished off the contents of the box.

The train rambled along the tracks creating a sway at times moving towards all the different destinations. Finally his destination arrived and he left the train and moved onto the platform with the paper under his arm. He saw some of the people from his train car that got off and were walking around. He looked ahead and noticed the woman when he had turned his head to check his path. She walked off onto another sidewalk and he went on through the crowd.