BART

She was a stickler.

Every morning at 6:21AM, she took the 2nd aisle seat on the right side of the second car, and hunkered down for her 42-minute BART rail commute into San Francisco.

She’d started each ride with a love letter drafted to Larry for later e-mailing. She’d share thoughts and dreams, how things might be when he got out of the service, sometimes share office gossip and even write anecdotally of her commute.

This day, she settled into her seat and opened her laptop. As the train filled and eased away from its 3rd stop, she heard a long belch, off…over left shoulder. ‘Disgusting and rude,’ she thought,’ and added ‘imbecilic’ when riders giggled aloud. Another burp, and more laughter.

Someone’s bad manners shred her concentration like cheap cheese, grating her last nerve. When she heard the loud report of flatulence–unmistakably a fart, and loud– and then another, nearby riders couldn’t contain themselves! She slammed the laptop shut, jumped up and turned, barking “LISTEN, MISTER!” convinced it was a man.

It was her man. There stood her Larry in uniform, home early from Iraq, hitting “Play” on his smart-phone‘s .mp3 sound effects to the comedic roars of complicitous riders. She vaulted over the seatback into his arms. He knelt and proposed to her, to cheers and tears of the crowd.

He proposed on car 5319, and they were married May 3, 2019 (5/3/19). They named their first-born, “Bart,” who trained to be a practical joker.

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