It would be over soon. That terrifying, hissing sound that the big snake made when it started to come to a stop, just before peeking it's eyes out of the platform tunnel. That was the worst part. The noise gets in your ears and rattles around and you have to go to "no, no, no!: to it to make it stop, like all the bad things. It's easier if your crush your teeth together. Covering your ears doesn't help much, but Andy used to try that sometimes, too.
It was 3:19. Andy knew Ian probably wouldn't be on this train. Final bell was only 14 minutes ago, but he got here early just in case. Sporting that trademark Andy wall-to-wall smile, he nodded his head and said "good afternoon" and "it's such a nice day" to people exiting the train and moving up onto the higher platform or out onto the street. Sometimes, a nice old lady would smile back at Andy. Andy liked it when people were nice. He didn't see the kid who borrowed his walkman, but he hoped he would bring it back soon because it had his favorite Billy Joel tape inside. Billy told Andy about all the good things and the good people in his songs, but also that love was hard sometimes. But probably not for his brother Ian. Things were easy for him because Ian was the best brother in the world.
Andy smiled and offered up a few more "hellos" and "how are you todays" to people passing by, before giving up and going back to sit on the bench. "The next one comes at 3:31," he announced out loud, trying to be helpful. "Don't worry, Ian is on there. And your brother might be on there, too!"
The man on the bench sitting next to him got up and walked over to another bench. "Don't worry about it," his brother's voice told him in his head. People didn't like to talk sometimes. That's why Andy didn't go to the loud Starbucks but the smaller one where Jessica worked. Jessica would always talk about TV shows and Billy Joel with him and she was his friend because she's nice. Andy made it a point to stop in whenever he knew she was working.
If Jessica were here, she would talk to him, Andy thought. "Her favorite song is Shameless. Garth Brooks sings it, too. He's a country singer. Billy's not a country singer but Jessica says Garth is pretty good, too. Just not as good as Billy."
The man on the other bench blurted out "Billy fucking sucks!" His voice was aggressive. He used the f word and everything. It scared Andy. He didn't like it when people said mean things, especially when their voice got louder. He wanted to tell the man that Billy didn't suck but he was afraid he might get madder and maybe try to hurt him and Ian wasn't here to make him stop. He got nervous and hoped the train would be here soon. He wished his friend would come back with his tape and his walkman. He wanted to hear "Uptown Girl." It always made him want to dance. Ian used to say that he didn't like to dance but Andy knew Ian would be a good dance if he wanted to because he's such a good runner and jumper and baseball player.
One time, he took Andy to the batting cages and they let him swing like a real baseball player. Ian helped him stand like the guys on the Dodgers do and he hit it two times. "Home Run, Bud!" Ian would say, smiling.
I wish the guy on the bench had a brother like Ian. He's probably mad because he never got to boom swing home runs. I would teach him how to do it but he's mean so I don't want him to get mad at me again.
The loud, roaring hiss came again. It made Andy a little dizzy as he crushed his teeth together.
"It doesn't really help if you cover your ears," he said towards the man on the bench, but then he noticed he was gone. It's OK. Andy was used to that. At least he wasn't saying mean things about Billy Joel with the f word anymore.
He scanned the cards, watching people step off the train one at a time. He met the eyes of several strangers and tried to smile at them, but most of the just looked away as they exited. "Don't worry, they're probably just busy and not being mean on purpose," Ian's voice reminded Andy in his head. Andy knew lots of people were always in a hurry. He got bumped into a lot on the street because they were always going so fast and Andy couldn't walk very fast.
The numbers were dwindling as people stepped out onto the platform. He recognized some of the people from before, but most of the eyes and faces were unfamiliar strangers. Just before the doors closed, he saw Ian, with his backpack draped over his shoulder.
The big kind of smile came over Andy's face as he hobbled over to his brother. "Well hey there, Slugger!" Ian said to him, smiling.
"He calls me that because I can hit home runs. I already hit two last time," he told an older lady with tired eyes walking close to Ian. She nodded her head and quickly shuffled off.
