***
Whenever Raj wasn't in school or working, he would walk all over Manhattan looking for his mother. He almost never made it back to the apartment before midnight or later on the nights he wandered the city. It was on one of those typical nights that Raj found himself sitting on the A train with his head against the subway car's window. He was tired, as usual, but this day had been particularly disheartening. He'd spent hours walking up to strangers, showing them his mother's picture and hoping for even a single lead, but with each negative response, he felt further and further from the truth. He'd given up early tonight, though it was still after ten o'clock when he'd boarded the train and slumped into a seat at the end of the car. The train was almost empty, and the car's rocking motion lulled Raj to sleep. He dreamt of dark things - fires, people falling through the sky. Buildings collapsing, women and children wandering through clouds of white dust, their screams silent but never-ending. Molten, twisted steel.
Suddenly a loud male voice jarred Raj awake, and he looked up to see two boys sitting in front of a girl with blonde hair. They were obviously drunk, and they were making lewd jokes about the girl's appearance. She was wearing a short, tight party dress that was cut low, and she was trying her best to ignore the boys, but they seemed determined to be noticed.
The kid wearing his hat backwards turned himself sideways in the plastic chair so that he was half facing the girl and half looking at his friend. "Whadda you think, bro? Cuz I think any girl who looks like that and wears that shit is just putting it out there, ya know? Like, 'look at me, look at my tits. You know you want some of this shit.'" His friend offered an exaggerated nod of agreement and then turned his head and belched in the girl's face.
Raj didn't want to get involved. He would only be inviting trouble, and the girl seemed to be holding her own and hadn't asked for help. When the train stopped at Nostrand Avenue, she got up from her seat without looking at the boys and started walking towards the exit when hat boy jumped up and blocked her path.
"Excuse me," the girl said firmly. "I want to get off."
The boy smiled. "Well, would you look at that? I just knew we had something in common, sweetheart." He looked at his friend and laughed. "My friend and me, we want to get off, too, honey, and I think you should be a good girl and help us out." His friend, still seated, snickered and then belched again loudly. The girl gave them both a look of disgust and walked towards the other exit, but hat boy ran in front of her, again blocking her way. "What's the matter, bitch? Can't take a compliment?"
"I'll call the cops," she warned. She was standing her ground, but this time her voice was more uncertain as fear coiled itself around her insides.
"Sure, sweet thing, you can call the cops," the boy said, taking a step towards her. "But you gotta wait until we're done, cuz I don't like nothin' bigger than a threesome." He was less than a foot away from her when his friend sprung up from his seat and grabbed her from behind. She screamed, and Raj's jaw tensed. Shit.
Raj leapt up and had already closed half the distance between himself and the girl when hat boy shouted. "Hey, towel head! There's nothing here for you, asshole. We saw her first." The other boy held her tightly with one arm and began to grope her with his other hand.
Raj was concerned that they might have a weapon, but he had to put an end to this quickly. He kept advancing and the train passed Utica Avenue.
"You understanda-da-Iinnglish?" Hat boy spit at Raj and then turned to look at his friend. He laughed when he saw him squeezing her breasts, and he nodded in approval. "Way to go, bro." The girl was trying to free herself, but the boy outweighed her by at least sixty pounds of sinewy muscle.
"Let her go," Raj replied evenly.
Hat boy turned back to Raj and took a few steps towards him. "Yeah? You want us to let her go? Maybe you wanna have your way with her first, huh? Show a rich, white bitch a good time? Yeah, well tough shit, raghead, she's mine." The boy turned around and grabbed the girl's face, slowly running his tongue up her cheek, and that's when Raj charged.
Hat boy was drunk and hadn't anticipated Raj's speed. Raj threw his arm around the kid's throat and pulled him away from the girl, then shoved him towards the other end of the car. The boy stumbled backwards briefly and then regained his balance, but before he could go on offense, Raj rushed him, throwing his one hundred and seventy-five pounds into the kid's midsection and driving him backwards into a metal grab pole. The boy crumpled to the floor and Raj whipped around to face hat boy's friend, who had released the girl to come at Raj. Raj easily deflected the kid's attempt at a punch and grabbed his wrist tightly, twisting his arm behind his back and kicking him in the ass so that the boy went sprawling across the floor and sliding into his friend. The train lurched as it entered Broadway Junction, and the boys struggled to regain their footing, grabbing on to the plastic seats to steady themselves. The girl ran towards the front of the car, putting Raj between her and her assailants.
Raj waited for the train to stop completely, and then he turned and shouted at the girl. "Go! Get off the train." He intended to keep the boys in the car until she got off safely and the doors closed. He hadn't thought too far beyond that, or considered what he was going to do until he could try to escape at the next stop.
The boys had managed to get up and were now advancing towards Raj. The girl hadn't made a move towards the open doors yet, and Raj shouted at her. "Are you crazy?" She said nothing, but removed her high heels and ran towards Raj. She grabbed his wrist and tried to pull him towards the metal doors. "No, no, you go!" Raj yelled, trying to break free of her grip, but the girl was stubborn. The automated voice played over the train's intercom system.
Stand clear of the closing doors, please.
Raj heard the dinging that signaled that the train was about to depart the station. He looked at the girl again with an exasperated expression, and pushed her through the doors just as they were closing, following closely behind her. Hat boy reached the doors and stuck his foot between them to prevent them from closing all the way, then began prying them back open with his hands. This time it was a live conductor's voice that boomed over the intercom.
"Release the doors in the back! The train cannot leave the station until the doors are closed. Release the doors!"
Raj and the girl ran up the stairway and burst out of the subway exit, the teens close on their heels for a couple of blocks. But the teenagers were drunk, and hat boy began to slow down. His friend was running slightly ahead of him, and he looked back without breaking his pace. "Man, come on, let's go! What's your problem?"
Hat boy stopped completely and bent over at the waist, hands on his knees. His friend looked back again and agonized for a few seconds about continuing the chase before finally deciding to give up. "Fuck this bullshit," he cursed as he turned around and walked back to where his friend was standing. "Bitch ain't worth it," he said, putting his hand on his friend's heaving back.
Hat boy raised his head slightly to look at him, inhaled sharply, and vomited all over his friend's shoes.
Raj and the girl kept running for blocks until they were sure that they weren't being followed. "I think we're good now," the girl said as she slowed to a jog, breathing heavily. Raj thought she sounded British.
"Okay," Raj agreed, also winded.
"What's your name?"
"Raj," Raj replied. He looked around to see where they were.
"Raj?nice to meet you. I'm Carrie," the girl said, extending her hand. Raj looked into two deep blue eyes and shook her hand.
"Thanks for helping me."
"No problem. Can I go now?" Raj asked.
"Can you go now?" Carrie wasn't expecting that. "No, you can't go now. What if they find me again?"
"Hmm?so?" Raj didn't know what else she wanted from him.
"So?" Carrie laughed at the strangeness of the conversation. "So you should offer to drop me off at my home," she replied, surprise
d that she'd had to state the obvious. "Do you always leave women alone in the city this late at night?"
"Yes. I mean, no. I guess not?" It sounded more like a question, but Raj was exhausted and just wanted to go home. At the same time, he didn't want to be rude, and it was pretty late. "Okay," he sighed. "Where do you live?"
Carrie looked around to get her bearings. "I think it's just a ten minute walk from here," she answered. Raj gestured for her to lead the way. Carrie slipped her shoes back on, and then headed off down the sidewalk.
"So what do you do for a living?" Carrie smiled at Raj and tried to start a conversation while they walked.
"I'm a student at the New York Institute of Engineering and Management."
"Oh, what are you studying?"
"Fine arts. What about you?"
"I'm a fashion journalist," Carrie replied. She'd left her jacket behind in the subway, and she involuntarily shivered in the late night air. Raj noticed, and offered her his long Kashmiri jacket. She appreciated the gesture. "Where are you from?" Carrie asked as she slipped her arms into the coat.
"India," Raj answered.
"Lovely!" Carrie replied with excitement in her voice. "I've heard it's a very beautiful place. I would love to travel there someday."
"I'm from Kashmir, in the northern part of India. It's even more beautiful there than probably anywhere else in India."
"Is that where this jacket is from?" Raj nodded.
Carrie didn't believe in coincidences. As they waked in silence for the next few minutes, she thought about the way Raj had stood up to those boys, and she believed that there was a reason he'd been on that train this evening - the right train at the right time - and she was determined to get to know him better.
Raj was also thinking about the experience, but mostly he was surprised that she didn't seem too upset by it. And as much as it shamed him to admit it, he was also thinking that with her job as a journalist, she might be able to help him in his search for his parents. She was a fashion journalist, but he was sure that she probably had some good connections.
"Raj, I'm sorry for all the trouble. Those guys were asshole. I usually don't come home at this hour, but I had to cover a party that ran late."
"Women need to be careful traveling this late," Raj replied. "There usually aren't very many people on the train this time of night."
Carrie wasn't sure how to interpret the comment, and whether to feel flattered or chastised. "Well, this kind of thing never happened to me before. But that's okay. You were there. I met you, and I am happy about that." Carrie smiled and took him by the arm. Raj wasn't sure how to respond, or even if he was supposed to respond. Maybe this was just considered normal in western cultures. He pretended not to notice and kept walking, letting Carrie keep her arm laced through his. A few minutes later, Carrie stopped outside a four-story residential building covered with ivy.
"Would you like to come inside?" Carrie turned her eyes up to meet Raj's.
"No, I'm late. I need to go home," Raj replied.
"Okay. Well, can we meet again sometime?" Raj was confused by the question, because he didn't understand why she would want to see him again. He must have looked puzzled, because Carrie continued without waiting for his answer. "Don't you want your jacket back? I'll get it dry cleaned and return it to you. I can come to your place if you want," she offered.
"You don't need to wash it. It's fine, don't worry about it," Raj replied. He truly wasn't concerned about the jacket, but he was mostly resistant to her offer because he didn't want her to see the cheap basement apartment he shared with Lucky and Vijay. Before Carrie could respond, Raj quickly said goodnight and ran off in the opposite direction.
Carrie stood for a moment and watched him run. "Well, nice meeting you, too," she said softly to herself. She wrapped Raj's coat around her tightly, and a smile slowly began to form on her lips.