If fault were to be assessed, it belonged to the dancers on the DC Metro platform.
Nine PM at the West Falls Church station - they were a young couple, maybe seventeen, mixing jitterbug with break. Not busking, just having fun, waiting for their train. His train, too. A tight cluster of other kids was watching, some providing rhythm.
The sign said ten minutes to wait for the New Carrolton train, his stop, far end of the line, 22 stations and an hour away. An ugly, stupefying ride. Especially at night, like now. The kids were good boredom-relief, so he watched, grinning to himself, as he strolled slowly past the cluster.
He stopped near a girl who was also watching, her toe tapping quietly. It looked as if she ought to belong to the group, but her body language said no. The two of them watched the show for a few seconds.
"They're doing well," he volunteered: "Wish I had learned to dance at their age."
The girl looked at him: her almost violet-colored, wide-set eyes scanned him once from hair to feet and back again, then settled on his own. A cool gaze, not unfriendly. It felt rather as if he had just been measured by some futuristic customized-tailoring device. His dress at the moment - shorts and tee-shirt - was not his most impressive haberdashery, but it had been a museum day, not DC-work.
If she could scan him, he could return the favor. She was mid-height, plain-pretty, with short blond hair, perfect complexion, no trace of makeup, no jewelry. Her clothing was interesting; a loose, clingy blouse that showed she was wearing a far more substantial bra than her slight build needed. That was strange; it was "July-night-in-DC" warm and muggy, there were lots of unconfined boobs in the group of kids. Nothing special visible in the way of figure, but a lovely bolt-upright carriage, rare in her age-group today. An unfitted soft cerulean dress complemented her eyes, and fell maybe five inches longer than even the conservative end of today's young-girl clothing spectrum. Thick-soled, sensible shoes with bobby-sox and no hose.
She noticed the detailed return scan, smiled at him unflustered - and turned out to be one of those rare "Plain-Janes" that go absolutely beautiful and radiant when they do smile.
She nodded, said "Me too. I wish I had learned to dance!"
Odd comment, he thought. "Well, it's nowhere near too late for you to learn... not like me!" he told her. Then, "You with them?" He nodded towards the group.
She shook her head. "No... I'm a bit of a foreigner here - from Kansas actually."
His home state! Further inquiries were required: "Where, exactly?"
She gave him another strange, detached-study look. "Little tiny place called Morristown. Out in the serious sticks."
"I've been there" he said.
She looked genuinely startled.
"In high school, I did research on hawks and owls for the Kansas Biological Survey. Drove through all 105 counties in the late winter mapping nests so we could come back and find them when the trees had leafed out. We measured and banded the young birds. I grew up on campus in Lawrence, at KU."
She smiled again, dazzling him. "Wow! Small world indeed. Do you live here now?" He explained - used to but not any more, this was a five-day business trip, his motel was ten minutes of taxi beyond the far end of the line, an amazingly bad choice! Today was his off-day, a personal reward - museums. And what about her?
She told him a lot, quickly, compactly - second day in town, first visit, staying all summer as a Congressional intern, her reward for stellar performance in her just-finished senior year of high-school. The interns came from all states, were being put up for ten weeks at GW University two stops up the line, only ten minutes from here. No, the group on the platform was not made up of interns, at least, she recognized nobody.
Actually, she was out on her own, inspecting the area. At GWU they were in dorms, very nice double student rooms, but single occupancy for interns. Individual keyed entry to the building. With another smile, but a trace of edge, she said "At last I'm being treated a bit like an adult!"
The train rumbled past them to a stop: the kid-swarm flowed into one car, filling it. He pointed to the next. She nodded, and they trotted to it, got in, sat down together. As the train lurched gently into motion, he turned to her and said, "Sorry I haven't introduced myself. Didn't mean to be rude, not to a fellow Jayhawk. I'm ..."
She stopped him with her index finger to his lips.
His turn to be startled.
She shook her head and said "I think I'd like to keep it this way." She watched his face: before he could respond, she continued "You weren't at all rude. And really, I'm not being rude either. Please. I have my reasons. Okay?"
He nodded, she dropped the finger, stared out through their reflection in the window. He wondered if he had somehow offended her, reviewed the entire encounter, came up blank. "As you wish" was all he said.
She thanked him, said nothing more, leaving the puzzle in the air.
Deceleration and rough track swayed their thighs together. When she didn't move, neither did he. Through the twenty-second station-stop she looked at him, silently, from what should have been a very uncomfortably small distance for them both - but surprisingly was not. The silence more than anything was getting him.