Metropolitan Diary; Lost by Translation

A few years ago my husband was waiting at the West Fourth Street station for a Queens-bound E train. The E and C trains both stop on the same track.

The C train pulled in and, at the last minute, a man ran up to my husband and asked if this was the E train. My husband quickly replied, “C.”

The man then said, “Gracias!” and ran onto the train. The doors closed and the train left the station.

-Dorothy M. Grusky