Outside the train, I heard more commotion, so I shifted back to the window and looked up the tracks once
again. I could make out more police on the concrete platform. They were on the ground, on their knees, huddling
over something and pressing down hard. There were three of them, and all I could see were their broad backs,
strong legs, and dark uniforms, the pant legs tucked into black boots. I realized that they were on top of someone.
▲ ▲ ▲
The Neighbors
With a swarm of armed police outside on the platform and two in the very next compartment, I decided that it
had to be safe enough to now unlock my door. Just as poked my head out and before I could set a foot in the
hallway, the two police officers began to back out of the neighboring compartment.
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They were dragging the man and woman, who
apparently couldn’t move under their own power,
holding them under the arms. I prayed that my
neighbors were only unconscious. The young train
attendant trailed anxiously behind the officers and
the two limp bodies now being pulled up the corridor
and toward the front of the train in the direction of the
attendant’s quarters, where I expected there might be
some medical supplies. Or perhaps the officers were
just taking the best way out of the train.
The attendant saw me standing in the hall, but
he didn’t order me back into my compartment. He
read my eyes, which were asking, What happened?
What’s going on? What’s wrong with those people?
“Gypsies, Gypsies,” he said. “Gypsies on the
train.” He shook his head in disgust and exhaustion.
Gypsies on the Train
(continued)
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▲ ▲ ▲
Like Ghosts
I took a step closer to the empty compartment that my neighbors had just been taken from, but I could see no
sign of what had caused the trouble or their apparent unconscious state. There was, however, a strange and
acrid odor wafting from the small space, a sweet chemical smell. All luggage was gone, but oddly, I had not
seen it removed by the police or the attendant. Bewildered, I went back to my own sleeper, leaving the door
open, and saw that the mayhem outside on the platform was clearing, as the three officers had indeed tackled a
man. The man they had caught had a slight build and wore jeans and a loose pullover shirt dyed in earth tones,
