It all started with one beer can...but before I get into that story, let me back up and give some background. I started taking the train home near the end of 9th grade. Every afternoon my friend Chung and I would get on the train and ride from Queens to Brooklyn. Over the three-and-a-half years of taking the train together we amassed about two dozen crazy subway stories between us. However, this one certainly takes the cake, it’s one of those stories that we never get tired of telling just because of how absurd it was. The story starts like this…

Chung and I were taking the train home from some event in Manhattan, I don’t exactly remember which but it’s pretty irrelevant for the story. We were sitting at the end of the train, talking as usual. Then, something caught our eye. Two men got on the train and one had beer in his hand. I giggled to Chung “Look, he has beer on the train.” Chung shook his head at me but neither of us turned away. The two men stood facing each other, standing in front of the train doors. The guy with the beer took a huge swig of it just as his friend said something to him. I wish I heard what he said but before I could even think about it, my eyes opened wide. I couldn’t control the grin spreading on my face. The guy spit all of the beer in his mouth on his friend. The guy was literally dripping in beer. Now, anyone who has taken an NYC train before knows that you’re never supposed to react when you see something crazy, it only attracts the attention to you. Chung has drilled this into my mind (one of his rules for taking the train), but in this moment I couldn’t; I busted out laughing. A loud laugh echoed mine as I turned at lightening speed to Chung, “Did you see that?” I probably shouted at him. A smile was stretched across his face as the subway car boomed with laughter. We tried to calm down but we couldn’t, another man sitting across from us who also saw the incident was also trying his hardest to remain calm. The three of us couldn’t look at each other without someone letting out a giggle.

Now, I wish the story ended here but it didn’t. The man with beer on his face was fuming with anger. He was glaring at Chung and I so hard it felt like his eyeballs were searing into my head. The train car started to empty out and I suppose this was the moment when he planned his revenge. I watched as he took another beer can out of his pocket, which was strange in itself because he had somehow hidden an entire beer in his pocket without anyone noticing. He opened it, but our eyes met briefly and he slipped it back into his pocket. “Chung” I slapped him across the arm. “Did you see that?” I whispered. “I think he’s going to throw beer on us.” “Nahhhh chill, he better not.” Chung whispered back. Our eyes were glued on him, watching and making sure we weren’t the next victims of the beer. Suddenly the doors to the train opened and a boy about 15 or 16 got on the train. He walked as if he was moving in slow motion and his eyes were reddish pink. He was so high. I nudged Chung who silently nodded, however we both quickly looked back to the man with the beer. The boy sat down, then he got up and moved closer to us. “Yo excuse me!” We were startled at the outburst. “Yo excuse, your pocket is leaking” the boy said as he pointed to the droplets of beer that had collected on the floor near our furious friend. I laughed out loud again. The man, clearly embarrassed, hurried into the next car. Luckily the next stop was mine and I waved goodbye to Chung, still laughing at the craziness that had occurred. I walked out of the train, up the stairs and went home leaving a trail of beer footsteps behind me.