It was a lazy Friday evening when I got into the R towards Queens. An old Asian couple to my left - one engrossed in the newspaper, the other staring into nothingness and a gloomy American to my right preoccupied with his phone. We shared a silent ride to Queens Plaza.
The gloomy American was replaced by a young black couple seated intimately close to each other. The subway car echoed with murmurs till 65th street. At Jackson heights, an Indian family added to the indistinct voices of the subway car. We shared acknowledging looks. Indians don't always smile to each other. A group of black teenagers hopped in at Rego Park filling the car with bustling energy and laughter. The girls from the group giggled their way to Forest Hills, the last stop on the train. Hundreds disembarked leaving silence behind.
The car promptly changed to 'Not in Service'.
The R train runs through three boroughs of New York City, Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn with its Northern end in Queens - Forest Hills and the Southern end in Brooklyn - Bay Ridge.