May 15, 2007: Ay Carumba!, Heard By No One In Particular

Story By Joe Zlomek

The woman spoke English with a Hispanic accent. She wore a brightly colored red and white dress, with flowers of alternating colors in the pattern. She was small, but the luggage she carried was oversized and obviously heavy, and as she pushed and pulled it onto her seat on the train, she announced to no one in particular that she was "headed for the airport."

The early-morning New Jersey Transit train rumbled Tuesday (May 15, 2007) out of Trenton, past Hamilton, past Princeton Junction, and past other in-betweens on its way to Newark and New York. As the rhythm of the rails so often does, it lulled the train's riders. Many, including the Hispanic woman, dozed off.

What followed were hysterics.

The lull -- the gentle rhythm -- were gone, replaced by the sound of the Hispanic woman spouting a torrent of invective in her native tongue. She'd missed her stop, it seemed. She meant to exit at Newark Airport but slept through it. Now the best she could hope for would be to get off at Newark Penn Station, buy a ticket for the airport in the opposite direction, and rush to make her flight.

"If it hasn't already left," she yelled, as the train's doors closed behind her.

No one in particular paid her any attention.