A chill and silent Metro car suddenly becomes a mobile party filled with friendly chatter

Last Sunday was, you may recall, a particularly lovely day. Leaving the brisk autumn air behind her, a friend of mine made her way down into the subway in the early afternoon and caught the Red Line going north. The car was jammed and, according to custom, silent. People kept their eyes averted from one another, wrapped in mutual anonymity and swaying slightly as the thing started and stopped.

The doors opened and my friend saw a tall man wearing a numbered bib get in. With his eyes cast down, like those of everyone else, he put a hand up on the metal railing and stood quietly as the doors closed. He wasn’t trying to attract attention to himself, but my friend couldn’t stop looking at him.