The subway is still moving. The tall man and the small man have yet to leave the subway. But those two haven’t moved. They remain motionless in a pair of seats near the rear end of the car. They haven’t moved for about 20 minutes. One would have thought that they at least squirmed a little bit to find comfort, because sitting on hard plastic yellow and red chairs for 20 minutes is definitely uncomfortable. But they didn’t even squirm. They remained motionless as metal statues during a blizzard in the winter.
For the tall man and small man, there is no reason to squirm! Why were they motionless the whole time? There are only a few things that can happen when one is motionless. The mind gets into a hibernative state. The entire energy of a person is devoted to figuring out what to do. If any motion is done, then valuable energy gets depleted. Less energy means less capacity to figure something out. Therefore the correct solution is less likely to be found.
Suddenly, the subway slows down. Something was changing! Something was occurring! This would be wonderful news for the tall man and the small man! They have been stuck on the subway for so long, they might as well leave and resume their normal lives again!
But with all the potential excitement that could have happened with the subway car slowing down, there was not one reaction from the tall man and the small man. Not even a twitch. Anyone else that had been stuck on the subway for as long as these two inhabitants surely would have moved.
The car comes to a screeching halt. The halt jolts the tall man and the small man out of their train of thought. The doors to the subway car slowly slide open with a loud squeak. A man enters the car. The man was of medium height. He is wearing a faded evergreen t-shirt, navy blue jeans that were well worn, and a pair of light grey sneakers. He strides into the subway car with confidence, looks towards the tall man and the small man and knods towards them, and then takes a sit in the middle of the car. The subway car doors squeak close, and the tall man and the small man look towards the subway newcomer in befuddled amazement. The subway moves once again.
The tall man leans towards the small man and says, “Oy, do you see that?”
“See what?” responds the small man.
“Tell me, a man with an army green t-shirt, sky blue jeans, and a pair of dark white shoes just walked into the car?” questions the tall man.
“No, I see a man with an acid green t-shirt, some cowboy jeans, and I assume he is wearing dark brown leather boots.” The small man couldn’t see what the medium man was wearing on his feet.
“Oh… I must be imagining things then.” the tall man says deflating.
The tall man and the small man resume to stare at the medium-sized man in a regular outfit that I have already described.
“Wait,” the tall man interjects, “but there is a man?”
“Yes, I see a man.” the small man answers.
The tall man and the small man gasp in unison.
“I’ve got to go ask him what he is wearing.” the tall man says.
“What? You don’t have to do that.” the small man responds as the tall man stands up.
“Of course I do.”
“And why do you have to?”
“Because I’ll know if I’m right or not.”
“Right about what?”
“If his shirt is army green, his pants are sky blue, and his shoes are dark white.” the tall man bewilders.
“Huh?” the small man says obviously bewildered.
“You’ll see.” The tall man strides over to the medium man.
“Still is green…” the small man mumbles.
The tall man introduces himself to the medium man, “Excuse me sir, but does your shirt happen to be army green?”
The medium man looks downward to see the color of his shirt then he looks upward to the tall man amused. “Well, I don’t know! I don’t know my color shades very well.”
“But you would say it is still green at least, right?” the tall man slides the question in.
“Yes…” the medium man says slowly.
“Awesome! Glad I got that settled.” the tall man says. The tall man confidently spins on his left heel and walks towards the small man. The tall man looks towards the small man with a smug impression.
Then the tall man halts realizing his guess isn’t dont yet. What were the colors of the rest of the medium man’s clothing? So the tall man still hasn’t proven his assumption.
The tall man turns around and walksa again to the medium man. “May I take a seat?” the tall man asks motioning a seat across the aisle from the medium man.
“Uh… sure?” the medium man permits.
The tall man sits down. A couple minutes pass. During this time period, the small man’s mouth slowly drops open in amazement.
“So, what’s your name?” the medium man asks.
The tall man ignores the simple question. “Also! What’s the color of your pants? Are they sky blue?”
The small man near the rear end of the car gives himself the famous facepalm hand gesture. The small man can’t believe this conversation is taking place. The tall man does not notice the facepalm.
“Hmm… sure” the medium man hesitates.
“Fantastic!” the tall man says glancing towards the small man. The small man still has his face in his palm. The tall man calls out to the small man, “Why are you holding your head? Do you have a headache?”
“I do have a headache…” lies the small man. The small man lies so that he doesn’t have to make the situation more awkward.
“Oh great! He is fine.” The tall man obviously did not hear what the small man said.
There are some more minutes that pass by in silence between the three men on the car. The small finally takes his face out of his palm. The small man and the tall man resume their meditative moods, albeit separate in the subway car this time. The medium man looks awkwardly from the tall man to the small man, waiting for any possible interaction to occur.
Then the subway car slows down again and comes to a screeching halt. I don’t need to describe again the situation the tall man and the small man are in. Needless to say, the tall man and the small man are again shaken out of a meditative mood when the subway stops. The subway doors squeal open. The medium man stands to leave. The medium man tells the tall man “It was a pleasure to meet you sir.” And the medium man walks out the door, and he is probably grateful for not being stuck in the same situation as the tall man and the small man.
The doors squeal shut, and the tall man exclaims to the small man, “I was right about what he was wearing!” The tall man is still audible to the medium man outside the train car. The medium man looks towards the subway car with a mild smirk. The subway then leaves the station.
“Sure you were right…” the small man defiantly says from the rear end of the car.
The tall man and the small man remain in their spots. This time they are making squirms. They do not need energy to think, because they are distracted. The tall man is content because he was right about the colors of the clothing the medium man was wearing. And the small man is a little annoyed because the tall man had to double check what the colors of the clothing was.