On the Train – IR 1735 | Car 2 | Seat 44 | București Nord → Sighișoara

My Uber drops me at Bucharest North 
It is 5ish and still dark
The station is quiet 
People mill about in the open air 
We can all see our breath
but this is comfortably cold—at least to me 
I bought my ticket online the other day
and it arrived by email

Subject: Confirmation and Voucher
Hey Conan, Your ride has been CONFIRMED 🎉
We’re excited to have you on board 🙂 

Still, I need more than that—
more than ALL CAPS and an emoji
to feel secure with my journey
It takes me a moment to find the info
buried in the download link
I check the digital train schedule
Train IR 1735, Line 5—not here yet
I wait on the platform
watching people sort themselves into categories
Workers in yellow vests sip coffee
Passengers loiter with their bags—
eyes fixed on a future folded in the dark
The homeless loiter too,
pausing to peer into trash bins—
their eyes fixed on the present

The train pulls in—dark and empty
I try to discern first- and second-class carriages
My ticket says first class seat 44
Inside there are two seats beside one window
and a solo seat beside the other
I cannot see the seat numbers clearly
So, I sit by a solo window
This can be sorted later
While I wait a couple of men pass by
offering books wrapped in plastic
I wave them away
Later one of the peddlers
helps a woman find her seat
That is when I realize 
I am in the wrong seat
I move to the 40s
but there is already a woman in 44
so I sit in 47 instead

In front of me, a gruff Romanian man
helps an older woman into her seat
They hug before he disappears 
Another man helps a woman his age
he kisses her on the cheek
then turns to go
It occurs to me—
all men, in time, let go of women 

And then —inevitably—
a woman appears
I already know that I’m in her seat 
She speaks to me in Romanian
Sorry I respond
She switches to English
Excuse me, I think you’re in my seat I’m 42

I look up at the number scrawled above me
42 looks like 47
I move to the other window seat and say
Excuse me, I think you’re in my seat
No the woman replies in English I’m in 46
She points to the seat beside her
This is 44

Ok, thank you
I settle in and wait

The train departs
No confirmation yet
Am I on the right one?
Once we begin moving
the ticket collector arrives
I enlarge the QR code 
he scans it without a word

Confirmation of the truth—
right train
right seat
right destination

It is still dark outside
I cannot see where I am headed
But I have gathered enough faith
to believe I am headed
where I mean to be

---

Photo by Vince Veras on Unsplash