‘As the Doors Closed, I Realized I Had Left My Laptop on the Bench’

Subway Luck

Dear Diary:

I was on the subway platform at Eighth Street and Broadway heading uptown. I was sitting on a bench near the front of the train.

The train rolled in, and I got on. As the doors closed, I realized I had left my laptop on the bench. I pounded on the door to no avail. I watched the computer sitting there in its little white-and-blue polka dot case as the train began to leave the station.

I managed to call my husband, Peter. Maybe he could get to the platform before someone took the laptop. When I couldn’t reach him, I called a friend who was at my apartment and asked her to tell my husband to try to get to the platform. It was only two blocks from home.

I got off at 14th Street, ran to the downtown side of the station and waited five minutes before an R arrived.

When I got back to Eighth Street, I raced across Broadway, ran onto the uptown platform and looked for the laptop case. It was gone. Everything, every thought in my head, every draft of my latest play, was gone with it.

I called my husband. This time he answered.

“I’ve got it,” he said.

“Where are you?”

“On the platform.”