You Had a Guitar. I Had a Blue Hat.
- W4M -28
We exchanged glances and smiles on the subway platform. I pretended to read my New Yorker but I couldn't concentrate. You got on the Q and I stayed on to wait for the B. You were lovely.
Francis took a sip of his (now lukewarm) coffee and opened the email account for his newest column, Missed Connections. He had gotten the idea for it from all the missed connections websites; sites where people would post ads looking for someone they had connected with but had forgotten to write down their contact information (or that information had been lost.) He found the idea highly romantic and after much pleading with his boss, he was allowed a quarter of a page to see what their readership would think of the idea.
Neither of them were expecting such an outpouring of interest. Almost immediately after placing the advertisement that explained the basic idea, they received letter after letter, from seemingly everyone in New York. They ranged from humorous (Seeking Girl Who Bit Me TWICE Last Night While We Were Dancing,) to heartbreaking (The Whale at Coney Island,) to vague (Are You Scared of Birds or Something?) They were always unique, always wistful, and always asking for help that Francis was very willing to provide.
Every week the magazine had two pages devoted to these letters, but it still wasn't enough. Francis didn't want to turn any down messages so he made a blog where he could post all the rest. To his delight, some of these people had been reunited thanks to his pet project. It felt so much more rewarding than his fashion articles. While this project had renewed his belief in fate and destiny, it also made him realize that he was lonely. He was alone, just like all these people, but unlike them, he had nothing to search for.
Black Dress, D Train
- M4W - 25
i kicked myself all the way home
for not saying hello
maybe you'll see this
and let me take you out
i was reading d h lawrence
Francis loved the subway. Ever since he was a child he had been fascinated by strangers; he was a boy he made up little stories about them, when he was a teenager he took pictures of them, when he was in college he sketched them, and now that he was an adult he connected them. In his eyes the New York subway system was the most perfect place for people watching. Everyone rode the subway and often he felt fairly smitten with these strangers. Not smitten with any individual person, but smitten with the idea of the subway.
But today he was not the same; today the subway did not hold its usual charm. Today he was feeling more than a little homesick and incredibly lonely. He was contemplating going back home to France, but before that thought had the chance to become serious, Francis noticed the man sitting across the aisle from him.
He was sitting at an angle and maybe that's the reason Francis noticed him in the first place. Because he was sitting at an angle, he was providing Francis with a perfect view of his profile. His heart leapt and he sat there for a moment just admiring the silhouette. It was far from perfect, he had a bumpy nose and his forehead was too small, but despite that it took his breath away.
He suddenly thought of A Moveable Feast; Hemingway is in a cafe, when he sees a beautiful woman and he writes, "I've seen you, beauty, and you belong to me now, whoever you are waiting for and if I never see you again, I thought, you belong to me and all Paris belongs to me and I belong to this notebook and this pencil."
And as Francis sat there thinking about Hemingway and beauty and chance and missed connections, he considered going over to him and saying hello, but then he realized that he would not be able to stare at his profile anymore. He sat there weighing his options, but when he had finally made up his mind and was about to approach the man, the train came to a stop and the man was getting off.
He quickly grabbed his bag and ran after the man, but when he got off, the he was nowhere in sight. Francis felt a surge of regret; just as he was about to start cursing himself for letting that man slip through his fingers, he realized that he had finally found his missed connection. He finally had someone to search for.
Do You Believe in Love at First Sight?
- M4M - 36
You were reading Jane Eyre on the subway this morning and I was captivated by you. I had never seen such a beautiful silhouette before I laid eyes on you. I wanted to say hello and tell you how beautiful you were, but then you'd turn towards me and I wouldn't be able to look at your profile anymore and that would have been such a shame. You were so engrossed in your book, that I don't think you noticed that I was falling in love with you. Still, I thought I'd ask, just in case.