Five-thirty p.m. in the subway. Lillian Cory standing on the platform of a northbound train. God, what a crush. That fellow with the mustache seemed to think that he could push right through her if he kept trying. Why didn't people build department stores down at the Battery anyhow? Then shop girls who had been standing on their feet all day would be sure to get a seat. God, it was hot, too. A nice thunder shower, now. Well, not exactly now but right after she got indoors.
Crossing her eyes and looking downward, Lillian could see that her nose was shiny. Oh, the devil with it. In this heat a person couldn't be bothered. Gosh, it was only One Hundred and Twenty-Fifth Street. She wondered if the ride used to seem this long in the old days. Well, she'd get so again that she didn't mind it. It takes time to get back in the swing of things. After all, this was the first time she had seen a subway rush hour in nearly two years.
The train groaned and swayed as it went its way. Lillian was in no danger of falling, tightly packed in as she was by other warm, crushed individuals.
Outside One Hundred and Sixty-Eighth Street station the train paused in the darkness. Nobody knew why it paused but everybody wondered how long they would
