A Soda Spill In Three Parts

Clumsiness on the part of a blonde chubby-faced young woman: she dropped her White Castle soft drink onto the ground. It landed lid down, and it was only when she lifted it up that the drink started spilling all over the subway car floor, forming a giant puddle near her open-toed shoes. She wore a fake gold band on her head, it was Halloweeen weekend after all.

The spill elongated as the train began stopping for the next station. The giant spill split into six different streams like tendrils that ran by unwitting passengers dry shoes.

One, sleeping, seemed to stir at just the right moment, lifting his foot and placing it closer to him just in time to dodge the soft drink jet stream that was advancing across the train car. The others, seeing what happened, synchronized their foot movements to keep their shoes clean. The woman who had caused it cast her eyes down.

When the train pulled out of the station, you could see the liquid pull back, back toward its source. On the left side of the instigator was a sleeping homeless man. He wore a bushy, white beard, and was scrunched up in the fetal position, in his army green coat, next to his clear plastic bag that held all his possessions. Next to it, were an orange and yellow bottle of Gatorade... hopefully or else he had some serious health problems.

The tendril inched closer and closer to the unaware passenger. Not three inches away, the train steadied its pace, and stopped. The instigator silently breathed a sigh of relief.

At the next stop, the extent of the damage floated even further; now a full half of the train car carried the liquid residue of a heavily regretted mistake. It was only when the train pulled out again, that the liquid moved closer and closer to the plastic bag containing all of the man's possessions.

But yet, it still did not reach. The whole car might as well have risen and began applauding. The old, homeless man stirred to wakefulness, and assessed the situation. He moved himself and his bags across the aisle to the opposite corner seat, away from the trajectory of the now-legendary soft drink.