Fire on the Tracks
Why did I procrastinate?
It was a beautiful day, and I was coming home from a visit with a good friend, feeling mellow, happy. As the NJ Transit train approached Secaucus, the radios exploded with conversation. Long story short, there was a brush fire on the tracks up ahead and we couldn’t move. Eventually, we rolled forward enough for people who wanted to get off to access the platform in the first three cars. Eventually, we were all told of an alternate route into New York City because “this train wasn’t going to move anytime soon.”
Feeling sanguine and optimistic that the impending storm would put out the fire, I stayed in my seat. I attempted to meditate. I stayed for a long, long time, even after the majority of passengers got off, opting to find a train from Secaucus to Hoboken to the PATH train into Manhattan. Certain I’d get lost because I usually do—I am navigationally challenged—I stayed, breathing deeply and saying my mantra.
Eventually, those of us remaining were told we could go up the platform and board one of the trains blocked ahead of us since, if we ever started moving, they’d arrive in Penn Station first. I did this and was promptly told by those conductors, “Don’t.”
Long story short, I found my way into Manhattan, asked every time I got confused, got quick connections and was home four hours after the 1.5-hour trip began.
Here’s the good part: I never got upset or riled. I just know I usually get lost and finally accepted if that happened in the Secaucus train station, I’d figure it out. Had I decided that a lot earlier, I’d have been home maybe three hours after the trip had started.
Meditation works.
Procrastination is foolish.
Maybe next time, I’ll act faster.
I could make an excuse that I was optimistic that the fire would be put out and the train would move. Or I could tell the truth: I was so sure I’d get lost, I didn’t do anything.
Or maybe that, too, is a lie.
As I said, meditation works. And because I was meditating, I saw all the workings of my mind and never got upset. It’s good to know what was truly going on.
Betsy Robinson is an editor, fiction writer, journalist, and playwright (also a former actor). She has written about books for Publishers Weekly, Lithub, Oh Reader, and many other publications. Her novels Cats on a Pole and The Spectators were published by Kano Press in 2024. She writes funny stories about flawed people and examines our herd culture. www.BetsyRobinson-writer.com.