Randy

The war veteran's foot was throbbing again as he climbed the stairs down into the subway to wait for the local train uptown towards Jamaica. With every step he toyed with the idea of using his cane to hit the pain out of his leg like he and his buddies used to do to show no signs of weakness. He smiled as he remembered biting his own finger until it bled after he'd slammed it in the car door and never once shed a tear. Well, at least until he got home and his mother's worried expression and mending hands brought forth the flood he'd been longing to release, he conceded to himself with an inner chuckle.

He looked around at the people standing near him and watched as a sea of faces looked everywhere but at anybody else. Most looked expectantly down the tracks waiting for some light to show them it wouldn't be long until they reached their final destination. But Randy didn't need to look. He wasn't in a hurry today. No, he was seldom in a hurry these days.

Green eyes caught his own dark ones for a moment and held them as they took in his tall frame, dark skin and gray hair under the hat. For an instant a mask was dropped and each felt no fear, no embarrassment, and no need to look away. A silent human understanding passed between the older gentleman and the young woman that age nor race nor upbringing could confound. He grunted a slight nod and watched the second express train stop at the platform. This time he listend a little closer to the announcement and got on.

"Is this local?" the mouth belonging to the green eyes asked.

"No. You gotta take it all the way to Continental and then hop the local. No local trains stopping at this track."

"Oh. Thank you." The green eyes came in and sat opposite him.

The subway doors closed as Randy leaned his head back against the side wall of the subway car and felt the familiar jerk as the train started. He thought about what it must be like for a white girl to find herself in an all black car headed farther into Queens than he suspected she had ever ventured. Not that she'd encounter trouble, but he remembered his first time being the only black man in a white neighborhood outside of Georgia and he suddenly felt a need to protect her. From the corner of his eyes, he observed the green eyes orientating themselves and testing for potential danger. Their eyes locked again and he smiled a true genuine smile of warmth and saw the lines in her forhead relax as she too leaned her head agains the wall of the subway.

When he got off the train, he felt the clear color of green following him up the stairs and over to the downtown local platform where they waited wordlessly for the local train to approach. Neither felt the need to speak, and as the train doors opened to let them in one more time, Randy stood back and held the door open for this young stranger just as any proper gentleman of the south was raised to do.

The green eyes looked up and saw a guardian angel holding the door open for her and she stepped inside the car unafraid and with an enormous amount of love to pour out on her strange protector.

Randy leaned his head back agains the wall and with his eyes closed and his instincts alert, he stayed near his assignment and rested his aching foot.