{"id":83508,"date":"2015-03-10T16:00:30","date_gmt":"2015-03-10T20:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=83508"},"modified":"2015-03-10T16:05:20","modified_gmt":"2015-03-10T20:05:20","slug":"delay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/03\/10\/delay\/","title":{"rendered":"Delay"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"subway-delay\"<\/a>

Photo via 6sqft<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

When we have to change an opinion about any one, we charge heavily to his account the inconvenience he thereby causes us. \u2015Friedrich Nietzsche<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I was riding a train the other day that came to a halt between stations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After a few moments, there was an announcement over the loudspeaker: the conductor explained that there had been \u201ca pedestrian strike\u201d down the line, and they\u2019d inform us when they knew more.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I guess some people weren\u2019t paying attention. After a while there was a rumble of discontent and querulous voices, and this one man started prowling the aisles trying to meet people\u2019s eyes in outraged commiseration. Even absent the announcement, this was premature grounds for bonding; we hadn\u2019t been stalled that long. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s going on?\u201d he was demanding. \u201cWhat is this? Are they going to tell us anything?\u201d<\/p>\n

At some length I looked up from my book, as it seemed no one else was going to enlighten him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey made an announcement,\u201d I said, without expanding.<\/p>\n

\u201cDid they say what\u2019s going on?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes. They said there was a pedestrian strike.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The man was clearly at war. His face worked, as they say. He had so<\/em> wanted to be outraged. He had already gotten himself so worked up. And here was the one situation in which no decent human being could express anything but unselfish concern.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh,\u201d he said. Then, \u201cdid they say when we\u2019d be moving?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d I said. I was very cold. I returned to my book.<\/p>\n

When the conductor came through later, the man buttonholed him for details.<\/p>\n

\u201cSir, I don\u2019t know what you want us to do,\u201d the conductor said. He would be stuck, he added, indefinitely.<\/p>\n

Afterward, the passenger wandered the aisles some more, having found something to be indignant about. \u201cIndefinitely<\/em>!\u201d He exclaimed. \u201cThat\u2019s quite the choice of words! Indefinitely<\/em>, he says!\u201d<\/p>\n

It was probably not a fatal strike, because it wasn\u2019t in the papers and the conductor had said that a fatality took several hours to resolve. This was only about forty-five minutes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When I got off at my stop, the outraged guy did, too. His wife was there to meet him. \u201cWhat an ordeal,\u201d he said to her.<\/p>\n

Sadie Stein is contributing editor of <\/em>The Paris Review, and the <\/em>Daily\u2019s correspondent.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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