The correct track

Mr. Stanley Anderson and Mrs. Christiana Amber Anderson were seated on a pair of seats facing two other seats in a group of four seats seat on the Amtrak train from Philadelphia to Boston. It was a 6-hour long undemanding journey. Stanley was one of the most soft-spoken people. He adopted this slow pace and low octave speech to counter his childhood stuttering habit. His façon de parler had a direct effect on his personality which in turn affected his phraseology. He looked decent wearing a neatly ironed shirt of light blue shade. His hair was perfectly combed with not a single strand of hair out of place. This has become his consistent look for the last ten years. He believed in simple living and high thinking. Unadorned simplicity attracted him the most. He was extremely tidy. A few people labeled his attitude as an OCD case. He was overly affectionate and caring towards his wife Christiana. He pampered his wife. "Do you want to eat something?" Stanley said in a voice that only his wife could hear. This was the third time he asked her in two hours. His wife replied "No" in a resentful tone. His over-caring nature annoyed her. She found the simple nature of her husband utterly boring. Many times she rebuked her husband for his disposition.

A handsome man boarded the train from New Haven station and sat on the seat facing Christiana's. He was tall, wore a leather jacket - unbuttoned, had back brushed silky hair which touched his shoulder. There was a sparkle in Christina's eye and she found it difficult to take her eyes from him. She gave him a coquettish smile. She made every effort to ignore her husband. Just as Stanley put her head on her shoulder, she unloaded it saying that she was not in the mood.

The hunky person was Solomon and he was a singer in a rock band that played in the pubs of Boston. Christiana eavesdropped on Solomon as he made a couple of calls. Solomon was funny - throwing in cheap double-meaning jokes at every opportunity. He had the deep coarse flirtatious voice which most rockstars had.

"Are you feeling nauseous? How are you feeling?" Stanley asked. Christiana replied in a completely contrasting rude tone, "I am not liking this. This is the hundredth time you are asking this." She gave the impression to the handsome musician that even though she was not single yet, she was ready to mingle. Christiana imagined a scenario as Solomon's lady. Solomon sang at a pub while Christiana was seated at the front table. "I dedicate the next song to my lady in the front table" Solomon shouted at the end of one song and the beginning of the next one. At the start of the last song, Solomon called Christiana on stage and they danced as the band churned out a romantic rock ballad. "I am going to the restroom.” Christiana's journey to the dreamland was cut short and she was deported back to reality by Stanley's interjection.

Christiana and Solomon were exchanging coquettish glances from the moment Solomon sat in front of her. It was hard to evade Christiana's signals and Solomon responded to those signals in the same wavelength letting her know that he was interested. When Stanley was gone for the loo, they started verbal communication.

They were pretty fast. By the time they reached the next station, they were kind of in the position of exchanging numbers. Stanley was too incredulous to suspect his wife of flirting with someone else. "We have reached Providence station," murmured Stanley. The new station brought with it the regular disarray of embarking and disembarking. Christiana was busy talking to Solomon when she got a glimpse of a familiar face mounting on the train. At first, she thought she was mistaken. She directed her gaze towards the door, but sagaciously so that their mutual eyes did not contact in case it was not a mistake. It was not a mistake. Unfortunately. She became silent and hid her face with a magazine. The passenger was Christiana's ex Kelvin from college. The train was still standing but she started traveling to her college days.

Kelvin was a stud in his college days. He rode to college in a stylish motorbike making a notoriously loud noise. His arrival and departure never failed to draw attention. He was most girls’ favorite. He was on the baseball team. Even though he was not the best in the field, he received the most cheers. He was the president of the student council for two years. Christiana felt she was the luckiest to be chosen by Kelvin. Christiana enjoyed riding around the city on the back of the motorbike. Kelvin partied like there was no tomorrow. Kelvin was a rough person. Excessive smoking and occasional drug use made him whimsical. Sometimes he acted extremely possessive forbidding Christiana from talking to other boys. Christiana liked this wild spring break lifestyle. But, sometimes she wanted Kelvin to be romantic. She cannot forget the occasion when she persuaded him to take her to the Lover's Garden for a romantic pass time. She was so happy moving around the flower trees holding his hand and talking under the shades of trees. They were engrossed in close conversations sitting under a pear tree when Kelvin suddenly had a mood swing and he forced himself on Christiana. He did not listen to her 'No's. Few visitors in the garden witnessed the incident. It was so embarrassing for her. Abominable memories of Kelvin telling her to slap herself whenever he got angry were etched in her brain like nasty scars. Why did she continue to be with him even after the abuses? She got habituated to the whims of the most popular boy in college. It was raining as the couple was riding the bike. Kelvin kept on verbally abusing Christiana who silently gulped those disparaging words along with raindrops dripping through the helmet. At one point when Christiana replied, Kelvin told her to get down from the bike. He left with the bike leaving Christiana drenched in the middle of the road. When the utterly humiliated and pissed Christiana met Kelvin the next day, he acted normal as if nothing had happened. Christiana already had made up her mind. Enough was enough. She announced her breakup with him. Kelvin took it hard. He used his position in the student council and spread libel against her. The situation became so adverse that she had to quit the college.

In the next college and the initial years of work-life she made few (more) bad choices when it came to men. Stanley was Christiana's father's friend's son. He was her father's choice. Dejected by her own wrong choices, she agreed to her father's request. It has been four years since the marriage.

“May I have your attention customers…” There was an announcement of a brief halt for some repair work on the railway track. The flashbacks were over by then. She precipitously held her husband's hand. The husband was taken aback. "Are you ok?" he said in a scared-to-ask tone. She placed her head on his shoulder. She stared at the singer for few moments. This rockstar will never ask her “Have you eaten?" she thought. He will never care about her feelings had she ever got married to him. All along the journey she never let go off her husband's hand.